Strange Beginnings
by sgriobh
Summary: Bella is something more than human with a past that's chasing her to the ends of the Earth. Can the Cullen's come to understand and help Bella? What happens when Alice and Bella are both confronted by the pasts that they are both haunted by?
1. Chapter 1

**All rights belong to Stephanie Meyer.  
Read and review please.  
Hope you all enjoy.**

Chapter One**  
**

My favourite time of day. Sunset. The colours of the sky, the smell of the warm, evening air, the chorus of the birds and the insects...it was all so soothing. A natural symphony designed just for me. My perch was cool against my skin. The stone was smooth, weathered by centuries of harsh rain and howling winds. The moss had been worn away by my frequent visits to this place. I'd only been here a few weeks but already I had taken this unruly wilderness and made it my own. The clearing had morphed somehow to suit me. The only place that I had left my mark was on this rock, but I had been here so many times before that the forest, the animals, knew this was my area, they had become accustomed to my visits. There was this one small family of rabbits. I always brought some food for them, just left it at the edge of the clearing and then waited for them to come. I enjoyed watching them, marvelled in the simplicity of their existence. Did rabbits ever question the nature of their being? Did they ever search for their place in life? No, they just hopped about, evaded predators, found food and a warm place to sleep. Simple. I envied them...not the fur, or the hopping or the predators, just the simplicity.

My life was far from simple...in fact the simplest part of my life was the act of drawing breath. I had come to Forks to try and escape my past, to erase the demons that haunted me...but there was no such luck. No matter how far I ran they found me. Even when I wasn't physically reminded of my past the memories were still there. I was a slave to them. Nightmares invaded my sleep and terrifying visions plagued me during my waking hours. No matter how hard I tried to forget, the demons were always there, so there was nothing left to do but accept it and try and get on with my life. That's what I was doing in Forks, Washington, but nothing was ever easy.

I ran my stiff fingers through my hair, feeling the wavy brown strands slide between them. I glanced at my watch and realised I'd been out longer than I'd intended. I heaved a sigh and stared after the slight fog as it wafted away on the evening breeze. I stretched out my legs and slowly leapt off the rock, a few dried leaves and twigs crunched under my feet. I turned around and retraced the familiar path out of the forest. It was getting dark and the shadows were closing in on me but I had walked this path a thousand times before. I knew where every root snaked its way out of the soil, I knew ever path of nettles, every rock and every low-hanging branch. I could find my way home blindfolded.

After a couple of minutes the forest began to disappear. Fewer and fewer trees surrounded me and my house came into view. The white paint was starting to peel slightly, I'd have to remind Charlie about that. It wouldn't help the situation if the house started to rot from the outside-in. Ahh Charlie, to everyone else he was my Dad but to me, he was the man who helped me escape. He risked his life to give me my freedom and since that day we've looked out for each other. He taught me how to assimilate into society. I used my adorable puppy-dog eyes to get him dates. We were quite a team. Charlie gave me life and in return I give him my gratitude, protection, admiration, and yes love.

I walked up to the back and slowly wiped my feet on the mat before entering. The smell of chicken greeted me. Charlie was psychic when it came to food. He always knew what I was craving. I turned into the kitchen, following the aroma and saw the freshly roasted chicken on the counter. My mouth immediately filled with saliva and I began to pick at the skin. Steam escaped from the juicy meat and I slid the crunchy skin over my lips and into my mouth. I savoured the taste, my favourite in the world.

"What do you think you're doing?" Damn! Busted! I turned around slowly, a piece of skin still clutched between my teeth. I grinned sheepishly at Charlie as he stood in the doorway, his hands on his hips, his mouth set in a stern line but a glint of a smile shining in his eyes.

I gulped down the last of the chicken skin. "It smelled so good. It was a moment of weakness. My peers pressured me to do it. I was possessed and knew not what I did...take your pick!" His face cracked into a smile and he joined me at picking at the chicken skin. Twenty minutes later we were both sat at the kitchen table with plates heaped with roast chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots and gravy. I was a slave to food. We sat in a comfortable silence, just enjoying the meal that was in front of us. Charlie mopped the last of his gravy up with a slice of bread before folding his hands delicately under his chin and staring at me thoughtfully. I set my cutlery down on the plate and returned his gaze. Questions were coming, I could just feel it.

"Bella, have you thought about school?" Crap-sticks. I was hoping that would slip his mind. I was happy to hang-out at home. Playing Xbox, watching movies, doing house work. I was content with that life, at least it kept me out of trouble...but school? Other kids? People? Lessons? Homework? I'd been through some pretty scary situations in my life but the thought of school made my skin crawl. I gulped slightly, my gaze dropping to just below his chin.

"It never really crossed my mind. Can't I just stay here?" I began picking at the hairs on the back of my arms. It was a nervous habit that I couldn't remember picking up, it had been with me as long as I could remember.

"You know that's not an option Bella. I have a pretty high-profile job here, it would be strange if the town Sheriff neglected his only daughters education. The 'family death' story can't hold up much longer." I hated it when he was right. I especially hated it when he used the tone of voice that he was using now. That calm, sweet, fatherly tone. He knew it got to me because it was the first voice I remember hearing as a child. It was also the only kind voice I ever heard as a child. Such a master manipulator, it must have come from his military training.

"You're right Charlie. I'm just nervous I guess." He reached over and placed a protective hand on top of mine. He smiled sweetly, his thumb rubbing across my skin comfortingly.

"I know Bells, but remember, you're faster, stronger, smarter and prettier than they are. If they try to hurt you, you hurt them first." His smile was infectious and my face cracked into a goofy grin. He was right. I could take whatever anybody had to throw at me. Nothing could ever be worse than being _there_ again.

That night I couldn't sleep. Charlie had rung the principle at his home, it was all arranged. Sheriffs get special privileges it seems. I just had to show up, sign a couple of forms and start classes tomorrow morning. I had my secret-shoe box open on my bed, the contents spread across the bed spread in a mess. There were photo's, and ID tag, sheets of paper with numbers, graphs, strange medical and mathematical symbols on them. It was my past. I had no family, just this shoe box and Charlie. I was grown, in a lab. From what Charlie says it had been happening for years. Rather than making soldiers better, governments had begun making better soldiers...children. Harvested from the DNA of the best, brightest and bravest. According to my file I had six 'parents' if you wanted to call them that. A US Army Ranger who single-handedly took out a terrorist strong-hold in Afghanistan. A female British scientist who has one of the highest IQ's ever recorded. An Olympic swimmer. A world famous gymnast. An extremely famous survival expert and adventurer. And a member of the British special forces. All of those samples of DNA had been chopped and changed. The best parts from each person had been genetically altered, amplified and combined to create me. I was a freak. A weapon. A child soldier built for the sole purpose of furthering the governments political and military aims overseas. I could walk at 3 months. I could talk at 8 months. I could speak 4 languages by 18 months. I could run a mile in under two minutes by the time I was 4 and when I was 6 I completed my first marathon...on a treadmill of course. I was fed well, taught well and monitored 24/7. Everything was white, I remember that. The walls, the doors, the floors, the chairs and tables. White. Not varying shades of white, the same blinding white of the Arctic. I lived my life in a sterile environment.

Charlie had been assigned to watch over me. There were nine of us at the Facility. I was the only girl. For some reason they'd been convinced that the male-form would produce the best soldiers. I can understand the logic. Men are stronger and faster than woman. And yet I was their most prodigious subject. I was the strongest. The fastest. The smartest. I had no fear in combat. I could survive in the woods for over two weeks without food or water and without being captured. I was the only subject who never broke under interrogation and I never flinched when I pulled the trigger. I was their star pupil. Nobody had names there. We were all numbers. One to nine. I was B.E.L.A number six. Bio-Engineered Legion Asset. The US Government wanted a legion of us. They started with nine and now, as far as I know, they're down to eight. My spine still bore the needle marks from the innumerable performance enhancers they pumped us full of. Fifteen years in a laboratory-prison. Charlie got me out. Charlie saved me. He couldn't bear the thought of me becoming a killer, a weapon, expendable. Shortly after we escaped, he'd stumbled back into the crappy motel we were hiding in one night. He'd been drinking. The previous day he'd had to kill two men he used to work with who had been tracking us. I put him to bed, pulled his boots off, placed a glass of water on his bedside table and the waste bin by his bed. He kept trying to sit up and I kept pushing him down gently. Then he just grabbed my hand and kissed it softly.

"You were such a beautiful baby you know. Such a good kid. They told us...told us not to care, not to get attached. You were targets. But you weren't. You were a child. Such a sweet, beautiful child. I couldn't ask for a better daughter." That was it. Fatherhood overrode Charlie's sense of duty. I would never be able to repay him.

We'd been on the run for almost eighteen months now. Charlie had gotten us new Id's. We'd both had our fingerprints removed and he'd found a job as a Sheriff at Forks a little under a month ago. Some elaborate story telling on his resume had helped land him the job and my little talent for accents had come in handy with his references. I actually think he loved his job, his new life. His face was losing some of the worry it had borne for so long. His eyes were getting their warmth back. He'd even taken to growing a moustache. He said he'd always wanted one but with his position in the military it was against regulations. It was good to see him getting back to human again. I'd worried about him for so long. We could never let our guard completely down but at least now we weren't sleeping in different towns every night and constantly looking over our shoulders in fear. Here we could almost be people.

I reached across my bed, taking hold of Charlie's old ID tag. It was a simple black rectangle. A thumb print in silver on one side and Charlie's name, rank and service number on the other side. I wrapped my fingers around the cold black metal and walked over to my desk. I hunted around in the top drawer until I found a spare chain. I slipped the tag onto the chain and slid it over my head. It rested comfortably just above my breast-bone. The metal was cool against my skin but then again, most things were. My regular body temperature was 102 degrees and my heart rate ran at a healthy 165 beats per minute. I was special indeed.

I gave in to the inevitable. I cleared my bed and slipped under the covers. I turned my lamp off and reluctantly closed my eyes. Sleep came about forty-five minutes later. It was a strange night. There were no dreams, just blackness and a sense of uneasy anticipation as if something was about to happen but I couldn't for the life of me think what that might be.

The next morning I pushed my alarm clock off the bedside table a little too forcefully. It crashed into my bedroom door with bits of it scattering across my floor. A small downside of being a government experiment was I always had to be extra careful. I couldn't run too fast or push too hard in case I drew attention. I'd have to remember that in school. I quickly showered and dragged a pile of clothes out of my wardrobe. I chewed my lip nervously. Did I want to dress how I normally did, ripped jeans and baggy t-shirts or did I want to blend in with the rest of them? Comfortable or fashionable? I decided to mix and match. I chose my ripped jeans and, a pair of black converse and plain, white fitted v-neck t-shirt with a black v-neck tank-top to go over it. I looked understatedly presentable. I grabbed a brush and pulled it through my hair, letting it fall over my shoulders. I wrapped a hair band around my wrist just in case I needed it later. Pulling my backpack out from under my bed I filled it with notepads and pens and grabbed my purse and threw that in there too. All packed and ready for my first day at school.

Charlie n was waiting for me downstairs. He threw me a worried grin and poured me a cup of coffee I grabbed the warm mug and dropped a couple of spoons of sugar into the dark liquid. I decided against breakfast, I was too nervous to think about food and just sipped my coffee. Thirty minutes later and Charlie was pulling up in the school car park just outside of a sign that read "School Office".

"This is it, you ready Bella?" Charlie still had a worried look on his face.

"Well it's now or never. I've faced worse." I grinned sheepishly and pulled by bag up from between my legs.

"I'll be back to pick you up when school's out, OK?" I reached over and squeezed his hand as it gripped the steering wheel. I nodded my understanding and opened the door, quickly jumping out of the police cruiser that I noticed was starting to attract stares from the quickly growing crowd in the car park.

"Good luck kid." Charlie waved to me lazily before turning the cruiser round and driving out of the school.

Good luck...I was going to need it.

My first three classes went by in a haze. After I registered at the office and collected my schedule and a crudely drawn map of the school, I stumbled through the crowds and entered my first class. English. I'd introduced myself to the teacher, Mr Murdock, I collected the reading list, introduced myself to the class and taken my seat next one of the windows and a shy-looking girl with razor-straight black hair. She introduced herself as Angela and offered to show me around. We compared schedules and luckily the only class I didn't have with Angela today was last period, PE.

I liked Angela immediately. She didn't ask me the usual questions...where are you from? What brings you here? How do you like the weather? Instead she asked me if I'd read the reading list before, she said she was sorry to hear about my mother before explaining that Forks was a small town and everybody had heard the story. (My cover story was that my mother, and Charlies wife had died in a house fire a couple of months ago and I'd stayed off school to deal with it. Which was why we moved here...a fresh start, in a nutshell.) She asked about my old school in Oregon, part of the cover, and asked what I was into. We shared much the same taste in music and films. I was still new to music and movies. Those sort of things weren't permitted at the institute. Instead there were military strategy movies, documentary's and movie dossiers on important political and military figures across the globe. Since gaining my freedom Charlie had been more than happy to help me catch up on what I'd been missing. To his dismay though, I'd fallen in love with musicals and old black and white movies. The kind of films that actually told a story and didn't rely on shock value or nudity.

English flew by, as did Chemistry and then Spanish. I was now waiting in line for lunch. I was famished, I was regretting my decision earlier that morning not to have breakfast. I heaped a hot dog onto my plate, cheesy fries, a bowl of coleslaw, a brownie and portion of salad before grabbing an energy drink and following Angela to her table which was already crowded. One other girl and two guys were already sat there, talking animatedly amongst themselves. I recognised the girl as Jessica from my history class and one of the guys, Mike I think his name was, was from my Spanish class too. Forks must be tiny!

"Hey guys, I'd like you all the meet Bella." I nodded at them and tried to plaster the most genuine smile I could muster onto my face. They all beamed at me and Mike pulled one of the chairs out for me to sit on.

"Bella, nice to meet you!" Mike greeted me and the rest of them added their own sentiments to the mix. The other guy, Ben, I noticed had his arm placed protectively around the back of Angela's chair. Mike and Jessica weren't as tactful as Angela and began bombarding me with questions about myself. I answered them as awkwardly as I could for a few minutes before I felt a small gust of wind against the small of my back. I turned to find its source and that's when I saw her, the embodiment of beauty.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N. So many big thank you's for the reviews and kind words and support for my last chapter. Keep it all up.**

**And I'm sorry for the cliff hanger, but you know how it is, always keep them wanting more.**

**Anyway, as always, All rights belong to Stephanie Meyer.  
After this, things are going to really start taking shape.  
Read and review and enjoy!**

Chapter Two

She was...breathtaking! I had my fork in my hand, stopped halfway between my chin and my mouth which was open in a wide, comical O. I followed her as she walked into the cafeteria. She was so elegant. Every step she took had a bounce in it. The only way to describe it is she walked happy! That sounds dumb but it's true. Even if you just watched her feet you could imagine her face smiling, which it was. The most mesmerising smile I could ever dream of. Her flawless white teeth gleamed in the harsh cafeteria light and her short hair bounced about her head but always landed perfectly. Her eyes were the purest honey and she was so tiny, I had the biggest urge to wrap my arms around her and make sure that the world could never hurt her. She was dressed simply. Blue skinny jeans, flat, black boots and a white peasant top that hung off her shoulders. She was exquisite.

She glanced over in my direction and I dropped my fork to the table with a loud clatter, a piece of cucumber rolling onto the floor. Blood flooded my cheeks and I quickly ducked under the table to retrieve the AWOL utensil. I scrabbled around between the feet of my table-companions and found my fork, quickly returning to my seat. As I righted myself my heart sank slightly, she wasn't there any more. I craned my neck until I found her sat at a table surrounded by other, impossibly beautiful people. I was aware that people had begun to design their pets...such as the labradoodle, I found myself wondering if people who were rich enough had begun designing their children yet. Natural birth and human evolution could not create so many perfect creatures! There was a girl with hair that was so incredibly blonde and perfect it reminded me a field of wheat. A big, burly guy with short, wavy black hair and a childish grin, a boy with blonde hair who resembled the blonde girl and a great deal and finally another boy who sat leaning slightly away from the rest of them, copper hair pointing in all directions and a slight scowl scribbled across his features. I took them all in, memorising their features instantaneously, but my eyes could not be removed from the short, dark haired girl for more than half a second.

"So you've noticed them?" I spun around, aware of someone talking at me. It was Jessica.

"Sorry?" I tilted my head slightly to create the impression of interest. I'd seen it done on TV a thousand times.

"The Cullen's. The one's who just walked in." Jessica lifted her chin in their direction and my eyes returned to their previous resting place. Mike, Angela and Ben also peered in that direction.

"Dr and Mrs Cullen adopt lots of kids. Good Samaritans or something, I don't know. Anyway those are the Cullen kids. Rosalie and Jasper are the blondes. Emmett's the big guy. Edward is the moody looking one and Alice is the small girl. They're all really smart and totally gorgeous but very private so don't take it personally if they ignore you for the rest of your life." I could hear the sarcasm and also scorn in Jessica's voice as she spoke. As soon as she finished the entire Cullen table, except for Alice, the beautiful Alice, burst into snickers. They looked to one another and glanced quickly at our table before giggling to themselves again. All except Alice. Her face was set in stone and her eyes were focused on her thumbs which she was twiddling furiously. I scowled to myself. There was just something too perfect about them. I couldn't place it but it reminded me of the Institute.

A few minutes later and the bell rang. I followed Angela out of the Cafeteria, working my way through a crowd of students, most of whom were staring at me, and made my way towards my next class. Biology. Big fun! Angela was already sat next to someone in this class. I walked up to the teacher. Mr Butler, and introduced myself. He pointed towards a seat right at the back of the class and said I could partner with Miss Cullen. Great, the blonde, superior Cullen would be my lab partner for the rest of the year. This should be entertaining. I dumped my bag under the desk and pulled my stool out. Sitting at the high table with my notebook in front of me. I tapped my pen against the paper impatiently. I felt a breeze against my cheek and looked over to see my lab partner walking towards me. It wasn't Rosalie. It was the other Cullen girl, Alice. I swallowed hard, more of a gulp really. With her size I felt sure she would have been a year or two below me. Evidently not.

Alice smiled sweetly at me as she took her seat. She extended her hand and I took it graciously, it was colder than it looked, but then again, to me most things were cold. I made sure not to squeeze. Watch your strength Bella.

"Alice Cullen, pleasure to meet you." She shook my hand slightly and flashed an absolutely dazzling smile.

"Bella Swan, good to pleasure you." I swear my heart almost stopped when I realised what I had said. I could feel my brain working over time. What did I say? What did I mean to say? Did she realise what I said? Alice was smiling at me, barely containing her laughter.

"Err...I meant to say good to meet you...sorry, my mouth isn't attached to my brain right now." I released her hand, blushing furiously again and looking down at my pen on the table. I heard Alice snicker and looked over, though she was giggling, her brow was knitted in concentration or frustration it was hard to tell.

The lesson got under way. For about half an hour we sat there in silence, scribbling notes as Mr Butler lectured on mitosis. Something was niggling at the back of my mind. Something was wrong. I tried to push it to the back of my mind. The end of the lesson came quickly. My heart had been pounding most of the way through. I'd been trying to think of things to say, anything, just to make conversation with Alice. The bell screamed at us, I jumped slightly and began to pack my bag, Alice and the rest of the class doing the same. Alice offered her hand again, smiling as sweetly as she had before.

"See you around Bella." I took her hand and that was when it hit me. My eyes went wide and Alice looked uncomfortable. She dropped my hand and turned on her heel quickly, darting out of the class in a matter of seconds. My hand was still tingling. I'd realised what was wrong. Where she'd shook my hand, where her thumb had pressed against my skin, there was no pulse. When we sat next to each other making notes, it had been so silent. Silence. Silence coming from Alice. There was nothing. Throughout the hour Alice Cullen never took a breath and heart did not beat, not even once.

I was frozen to the spot for a few more moments. What was she? My head was spinning and I was gulping down oxygen. I felt like I was going to pass out. Was she from the Institute too? Was she like me? I had to tell Charlie. I grabbed my bag and quickly sent Charlie a text explaining that I would be leaving school early and I needed to speak with him urgently. I wove through the rest of the students. A woman on a mission. I ignored the glances and blatant stares and found my way to the nearest exit. The fresh air was like a smack in the face and I relished it. It allowed my focus to come rushing back, I began to formulate a plan. Number one, get out of school. Number two, find Charlie. Number three, explain situation to Charlie. Number four, investigate. Number five, possibly run away or hide under my bed like a baby. I was walking a little faster than I should have and I was concentrating so hard that I didn't even notice someone coming up behind me. The hand on my shoulder caused me to jump about a foot into the air. I spun around, immediately on the defensive and saw the boy with copper hair who was sat with Alice at lunch. He still had that slight scowl on his face.

"I just want to talk." He held his hands up and took half a step back from myself. He had the same blemish-free skin and perfect golden eyes as Alice, only his were a little darker around the pupils. They were so alike, I concentrated a little harder on this boy, Edward I think Jessica said his name was, and I realised that he was JUST like Alice. No pulse, not breathing, no heartbeat. My instincts took over, the area around me began to dim slightly until Edward was the only thing I could see clearly. I lifted my right leg, bending it at the knee until it formed a perfect right angle. I then snapped my foot forward as hard as I could, catching Edward full force, square in his chest. The boy went flying backwards. I'd put too much strength into the kick. He flew through the air, crashing into an old, battered, brown pick-up, causing a massive dent in the passenger door and the truck to spin out of its parking space, clipping a a row of bikes parked next to it and causing them to topple over like a row of dominoes. Less than a blink of an eye. That was how much time had passed. Too long, I should have left already. I saw the look of absolute horror and shock in Edwards face. He definitely wasn't a normal human. That kicked would have snapped any other persons spine. I turned on my heels and ran into the forest. What on Earth was I going to do now?

I ran through the trees, ripping branches and roots out of my way. I was a blur. At this speed I could reach Alaska by sunset. My senses were on high alert. Was I being followed? No...wait...yes! There were...three of them, two on my left, one on my right. I glanced over my shoulder. Edward was on my right, about fifty feet behind me and the two other guys from lunch, Emmett and Jasper I think, were on my left, a little further behind than Edward. How could they be running this fast? I decided to try and leave them in the trees. I sprung from the forest floor and landed on a thick branch about thirty feet up. The bark cracked slightly under my feet but I kept running, leaping from branch to branch, leaves were dropping all around me and I was aware that I had a few in my hair, to mention a few twigs. The wildlife skittered out of my way in a hurry. I heard a thunk behind me and saw the blonde boy, Jasper land on a branch a few trees away. My plan didn't work. I had no idea who my enemy was. They were obviously strong and fast, but how strong? I couldn't risk a confrontation, I had to keep running. I threw myself out the tree, doing a somersault before landing back in the dirt and resuming my frantic running. I twisted and zigged through the trees, hoping my pursuers would make a mistake and literally trip themselves up, no such luck. I began to realise that they weren't actually trying to catch me; they were just keeping pace. I wonder if they could catch me? I took a violent left turn, crashing into a tree at least a hundred feet tall and causing it to topple over into the nearest tree behind it. The deep roots erupted out of the soil, it was like a volcano. Soil, worms, roots, they all went flying everywhere! The guy with black hair was going too faster and couldn't adjust his trajectory. He went straight into the clump of roots. His mouth and eyes wide open. I kept running. The roots didn't stop him or his companions for long. Less than a second later and they had already caught up again. This time more determined than ever. The two guys on my left began to push, causing me to veer on my right. If I went to far right then Edward pushed on my other side causing me to veer left. They were herding me! Where were they taking me?

I realised the trees were thinning. We were coming to a clearing. This was it, they'd been looking for a quiet, open face to attack me, take me down. I tensed all my muscles, this was going to hurt. They'd grouped up behind me, the big one was in front, Emmett. I turned a full 180 and stopped in my tracks. I put all my weight on my back leg, gritted my teeth and braced myself for impact. About a second and a half later Emmett came barrelling into, impossibly soon after that I felt another weigh added to his and then a third. I'd taken them by surprise. This was good. I grabbed Emmetts shoulders, digging my fingers into his skin...although it felt more like solid rock! I heard him hiss, hopefully in pain, before I put all my weight, fear, anger and strength behind my arms and shoved as hard as I could. Emmett and his two companions went flying backwards into a few young trees. I heard them snapping, I heard the boom of them hitting the soil and the snarls of anger. I ran again. I ran straight into a pair of stone arms.

I'd been flipped over onto my stomach with my arms pinned behind my back. A weight was on my legs and my face was forced to the left, grass was tickling at the corner of my eye. How did they sneak up on me again? I must be getting rusty. I thrashed about but couldn't move. I couldn't even gain a millimetre of space or freedom! The weight on my legs never moved and the grip on my arms never lessened. After a few more thrashes, I began to notice my surroundings. I was indeed in a clearing, but it wasn't a forest clearing. The grass was cut short, I noticed an elegant, black iron bench under a gazebo that had ivy clinging to its roof. There were boulders and gravel...this was a garden! I twisted my neck slightly and saw the biggest, most beautiful house I had ever laid my eyes on! It was a mathematicians dream1 There were so many angular walls, a high, sloped roof and windows!I couldn't count the windows there were so many! It was breath-taking and unsettling. What was it doing out in the middle of the forest? I noticed the blonde girl, Rosalie stood just in front of me, she was crouched with her fingers splayed in an aggressively feline stance. Behind her stood a woman with chocolaty hair and warm eyes, a worried look curled over her lips and behind her, with his hands on his shoulders stood a tall man, sunlight blonde hair and inquisitive features. There were more of them. None of them had heart beats.

Fear had seeped into every pore in my body. I was sure they could smell it on me. My heart was beating faster than normal, which for me was quite an accomplishment. My eyes darted over all of their faces. The three guys had joined the others in front of the house. Emmett had a crooked grin, Jasper had his arms folded and Edward had his thumbs tucked into his pockets. They obviously didn't view me as a threat. Of course they couldn't, I was pinned down!

"Please let our guest up." The man's voice was soft, quiet, I wasn't sure I'd heard it at first or if it had been in my mind. The weight on my legs shifted. My arms were pinned tighter against my back and I felt a cold hand grab my waistband of my jeans and lift me to my feet. I was given a second to right myself and get my balance. I looked at my captor, it was Alice. She barely came up to my shoulders and yet she was able to pin me down with the ease of a man four times her size.

My knees were twitching. I didn't know if they wanted me to run or collapse. I looked around sheepishly, waiting for the bullet or knife or rope that was going to finish me off. Instead the man stepped forward. His hand were at his side and as he got closer he moved them away from his body, his fingers spread and palms facing me. I recognised it as a peaceful gesture. He was showing me he was unarmed and meant me no harm. I didn't believe him yet.

"My name is Carlisle, this is my family. Who are you?" He spoke crisply, there was a hint of an accent in his voice, as if he'd lived somewhere entirely different to this place when he was younger. I clamped my mouth shut. My Institute training over-rode every thought in my brain. DO NOT give them any information. I had to find a way to escape.

"We mean you no harm." He stepped closer.

"Bella, her name is Bella." The sweet voice behind me almost shocked me into peacefulness...almost.

"Bella." Carlisle tilted his head to the side slightly. "Why have you come here Bella? What are you?" He looked at me curiously, taking another step closer. He was just beyond an arms length away. Just at the point the cloud cover that appeared to constantly inhabit the skies over Forks parted. Sunshine flooded the area in waves. It hit the house first, causing rays of light to be cast in every direction, reflected over the immense amounts of glass. Then it hit my captors and reflected off their skin. What? The light was reflecting of their skin. It was bouncing off them, like marble. They were shining! They were actually, fricking shining! What, the actual, hell? I looked at them one at a time, each more beautiful than then next. My eyes stopped on Alice's face, barely two inches away from my own. The light was shinning off her skin in a ballet of colours. Reds, pinks, blues, purples. It was so beautiful it made me want to weep. My eyes drifted from her skin to her eyes, they were the darkest of black now, a vivid and violent contrast against her beautiful, mesmerising skin.

"So beautiful." I barely managed to whisper the words before my legs gave way and my world went black.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N. Sorry for the delay. I've been mega busy and haven't had much time to work on this.  
Anyway, here's the new chapter.  
Everything belongs to Stephenie Meyer.  
All will be explained in due time.  
Good things come to those who wait.**

Chapter Three

'Nothing in life is certain'. I never got that statement. Doesn't that statement imply that it is a certainty in life that everything in life is unpredictable, thereby the only certainty in this world is randomness and chance? If that's true then the statement can't be true, because there is at least one thing in life that is certain, chance. Well chance had dealt me a terrible hand! I knew before I even opened my eyes that I wasn't at home. I could tell before the memories came flooding back to me that something was wrong. The atmosphere was tense. The air was almost buzzing. It made me uncomfortable in my own skin. I wanted to fidget but I was scared to move. What's wrong? Then it all came flooding back. The chase through the trees. Being pinned down. Being surrounded. Her. I felt my chest tighten as my eyelids shot open. I wasn't outside any more. I was inside, I could hear a television playing somewhere below me. I guess I was upstairs. I was on a bed. There were so many cushions around me. Right, so I'm inside, on a bed upstairs...bedroom! I must be a distant relation of Sherlock Holmes, my powers of deduction are amazing! I lifted myself up onto my elbows. It was only then that I realised I wasn't in restraints. I looked around the room. There was a dresser on the far side, it looked like an antique, the mirror was beautiful. I could see the wooden carvings around the edges. Hundreds of roses, it was so elegant. There were what appeared to be various hair products scattered over the surface of the dresser. On the other side of the room was a large desk, paint brushes and dozens and pencils, sketch pads were piled high and a ball of what looked like clay sat on a small tray towards the back of the desk. The walls of the room were a soft yellow, a few shoes were kicked into one of the corners and photos lined the wall next to the bed I was currently occupying.

It was definitely a girls room I was in. The heels in the corner could attest to that fact. I shifted my weight and swung my legs over the side of the bed. It was the biggest bed I'd ever seen by the way. It looked bigger than a king and as I was perched right on the edge of the bed, I couldn't even reach the floor. I dropped down onto the polished, hard wood floor. No sooner had my toes settled into place than the bedroom door swung open. Alice was there, arms folded and eyebrows furrowed. My heart skipped half a beat and my stomach dropped. I instinctively clenched my fists at the side of my body and let my weight fall onto my back foot. Ready to strike or run, whichever the situation called for. Seeing my slight change of stance, Alice's face softened just a little bit. Her features were plain now, unreadable.. A gentle hand came to rest on her shoulder and she glanced at it before lowering her eyes to the ground. The man from before, Carlisle, stepped into the room.

"Bella, please remain calm. We will not hurt you." His hands were raised in the same fashion as they were outside. I relaxed my fingers just a little bit but remained on my guard. I had to get away! I had to get back to Charlie.

"There are matters we need to discuss." He motioned for me to take a seat on the bed behind me. I had no other option. I was outnumbered, outmatched and somewhere I didn't know. I had to wait for my moment and this wasn't it. I slowly lowered myself back onto the bed. I gripped the edge of the mattress, trying to stop myself from shaking. Carlisle looked back to Alice who still stood in the doorway. His lips barely moved as he spoke to her.

"Would you fetch Edward please, Alice."

I glanced to Alice, I could feel the fear flooding over my face. "Why Edward?" The fear was in my voice. Maybe this was about revenge, payback for throwing Edward into that car. Both Alice and Carlisle looked at me, Alice her eyes widened and she tilted her face to the left slightly whilst Carlisle's eyes scanned my face.

"You heard that?" I nodded, swallowing hard. My fear was increasing exponentially with every passing second.

"Interesting..." Carlisle's eyes seemed to glaze over for half a second. He blinked and smiled politely at me.

"There's nothing to fear Bella, as I said, we will not hurt you." Carlisle grabbed a chair and pulled over to sit in front of me. He was about six feet away, a safe distance but I still would not relax around these _people_.

"To prove that we mean you no harm, how about we answer the many questions that you must have, and, in return, I hope that perhaps you might answer some of our questions. However, it is entirely your decision Bella." I was confused. This wasn't exactly the interrogation I had been expecting.

I spluttered, trying to find the right words. "I...uh...what? Aren't you going to kill me?" Alice growled slightly. At least it sounded like a growl and Carlisle's mouth fell open slightly, his honey-eyes dimming.

"No, Bella! We would never hurt you let alone kill you!" Carlisle voice was harsher than before, but it wasn't angry or mean, just...shocked.

"Who are you people?" I looked between them. Alice's eyes dropped from mine. "Were you sent after me?" My heart was pounding. My vision was beginning to focus again. My body was preparing itself. I moved to the very edge of the bed, readying my body for rapid movements should I need to. I'd already formulated a plan of escape. An entire wall of the room I was in was comprised of glass panels. A window-wall. That would be my escape. I'd get them talking and then leap for it. Just as I tensed my leg muscles, flexing my toes ready to dash forward, Alice appeared right in front of the glass panel I was aiming my body towards. How did she know? I looked at her quizzically, my hope fading.

Carlisle didn't seem to have any inclination of what I'd been plotting and he seemed not to notice the change in my mood either. Or if he did then he didn't show it.

"We're the Cullen's, Bella. We're a family. Nobody sent us to find you. We've lived in Forks for a while now. I work at the Hospital, my wife designs peoples homes and my children all go to Forks High." There was something about the way his voice lilted when he spoke, every word he said somehow sounded like a private joke that wasn't meant for me. Out of the corner of my eye it almost looked like Alice was smirking. But when I glanced over her face was blank.

"You guys aren't...normal." I was glancing between them now. Trying to catch a glimpse of anything that might indicate deception or a forth-coming explanation.

"No we're not. But then neither are you." It was unnerving how silent Alice was being. Was she just a body-guard for Carlisle?

"No I'm not normal," I was staring Carlisle right in his eyes now. "But I have a heart beat." Carlisle's chin tilted and I saw Alice shift her weight slightly. I'd hit a nerve.

"What makes you say we don't have heart beats?" It was the first time Alice had spoke since I'd opened my eyes. Her voice was like an exquisite slap to the face. It knocked all the thoughts out of my mind and I swear it made my heart beat ten times faster. Why did she have that effect on me? Maybe she was a witch or something.

"I can hear that you don't have a heart beat." I was gaining in confidence. I was onto something now. They looked as uncomfortable as I felt.

"Well you are quite a distance away from us Bella." Carlisle sounded like all the therapists I'd seen on TV and in films. He was trying to placate me.

"I have exceptional hearing." I lifted my chin in defiance. I wasn't going to let him get to me. I wasn't going to drop my guard. I wasn't going to be beaten.

"I have no doubt. OK Bella, so we've established that we're not exactly _normal_ and that we lack certain circulatory processes that other people possess. Now may you permit me to ask you a question?" His voice was sweet but stern, he definitely sounded like a doctor. I nodded at him. I noticed a muscle in my leg was twitching. I must be really tense...well duh!

"Thank you...who are you?" He cocked his head at me, examining my features, sizing me up. I opened my mouth and gold-fished. Open, close, open, close. Should I? Shouldn't I? Should I spill my secrets? Shouldn't I? At that moment I heard a familiar sound. A high pitched double whistle, followed by a second double whistle. Charlie! Our signal. He'd found me. Alice and Carlisle turned to face out of the window, trying to discover where the sound came from. This was my chance. I threw myself off the bed, barrelling towards Alice. I caught her around her waist and we smashed through the glass together. Instinctively I wrapped my body around hers, trying to shield her from harm. We fell through the air and landed hard on the grass beneath the destroyed window. I jumped up and ran. The whole incident had taken less than half a second. Nobody was following me, I was headed for the trees. I could see Charlie, he was perched on a branch about twelve feet off the ground, he had a UMP45 levelled at the house. He was aiming down the sights, ready to pick off any targets that might enter his field of vision. The trees were getting closer. I could hear foot-falls behind me but it didn't matter. This time I knew I was faster. I just had to keep running, don't look back. My hair was flying past my face, getting caught on my lips, and around my ears. I ignored it. All that mattered was getting to Charlie. He was climbing down from his perch now. I knew he'd have a car waiting nearby.

"Wait!" It was Alice. She was the one chasing me. Only her. Where were the others? There was something about her voice, it sounded desperate, frantic. I slowed, I stopped, I turned. She was just standing there, maybe thirty metres away from me. She looked so small and vulnerable. The beautiful house acted as a magnificent back-drop. Her petite frame, the fading light, she looked like an angel. Her skin that was dazzling a few hours ago had a faint shimmer to it now. I wanted to go over there, I wanted to be near her. I shook my head, trying to rid myself of those confusing thoughts. I had to turn and run

"Bella, please." Please? Alice was pleading with me? I was really confused. Her face was smeared with desperation. What was going on. Her eyes were wide, her hand was outstretched towards me. I took a step forward, mesmerised by the scene in front of me.

"Bella?" Charlie's voice snapped me out of it. I fell back into my previous position. I stole one last look from Alice, her beautiful golden eyes were now pitch black. I turned on my heels and ran towards Charlie. Alice didn't follow me this time.

We drove home in silence. Charlie's heart was pounding so hard and fast I was scared that he was going to have a heart attack. He kept glancing in his rear view. We weren't followed. Never the less he drove out of town and along a few dirt tracks, trying to confuse anybody if they were following us. Forty minutes later we were back at the house. Charlie had his UMP45 drawn and was methodically searching each and every room. We were alone. Charlie let the gun slide across the kitchen table. He ran his hand through his hair. He was starting to show his age. There were wisps of grey appearing in the chocolatey mass and worry-lines were stretched across his forehead and under his eyes.

"What happened?" His voice was strained, tired. I never realised until now that Charlie was getting old. I felt my heart twinge. I tucked my hands into my pockets and explained everything that had happened. From my disturbing realisation at school, exposing myself to Edward, the chase through the forest, the chat with Carlisle. I told him everything...except the effect that Alice had on me. I couldn't find the words to explain that and when I thought about it I found myself becoming uncomfortable and embarrassed so I just omitted it from the story.

"Jesus Bella! Your first day at school and you run into people with no heart-beats who sparkle! What next? Unicorn riding lessons?" I smirked at his remarks. He had a point. If I wasn't living it, I'd think that my life was some story or film...something so far beyond reality that it was purely for entertainment.

"What are we going to do Charlie?" I was becoming anxious. I didn't like not knowing things and I especially didn't like not having a plan.

"I don't know Bells. If they'd followed or if they'd been waiting for us then I'd get us out of here sharpish. But look, there's nobody here. They didn't come after us. I don't think they're from the Institute, I think...I think they're something else." He was gripping the back of a chair now, flexing his muscles biceps slightly so he was bobbing up and down.

"Something else? There are something elses? GM babies aren't enough for this world there has to be something elses too?" I was seriously starting to question my sanity right now.

"I think maybe we should just lay low. We've settled here...well to an extent. We'll keep our distance. You be on your guard. I'm going to get you a car or something so you're not always waiting for me after school. This is a different situation. Not one I was expecting. We just need to...I don't know...get more information before we make a decision?" He was babbling, that meant his brain was working at roughly about ten thousand thoughts a second. Poor Charlie, if only he had my superior cognitive abilities, then he wouldn't babble and his eyes wouldn't bulge like they are now.

I walked around the table and placed my hand on his, calming him down. He smiled at me gratefully, grabbed his UMP45 and swiftly unloaded the weapon. He strolled out of the kitchen and upstairs. I knew he'd spend the rest of the night cleaning his guns, checking that every one of them worked. That was how Charlie faced unknown situations. He made sure he was ready to take on a small army and then ask questions later. Well that wasn't me. I wanted to ask questions now. If we weren't going to leave and we weren't going to fight then I was going to investigate.

Midnight came and went. I could hear Charlie pacing in his room. Every now and then there was a quiet scraping noise and I knew he was pulling his curtains back, checking the surrounding areas. Oh Charlie, always the diligent soldier and the devoted father. I pulled a dark hoody over my head and tied my converse up. I silently pulled my window open and dropped to the ground. Luckily the night-life in this part of the world was pretty noisy. Owls, insects, the scurrying of smaller animals. It all muffled the noise I was making. I pulled my hood over my head, framing my face and tucking my hair down the back so it didn't get in the way, then I set off through the forest. I was acting under the assumption that the Cullens had the same abilities as me, if not better. Sight, hearing, smell, strength, speed. I acted accordingly. I made sure to go against the wind so my scent wasn't carried. I made to sure to take slow, deep breaths to stop my heart from beating too loud. I stepped on the moist ground to keep my footsteps muffled and I made sure that I was wearing nothing that would reflect light. This was all training that had drilled into us at the Institute. Blend in, hide, never give anything away.

I wound my way through the trees. I was headed back to their house. A few minutes later I could smell fabric, I could feel the buzz of electricity in the soil. I was getting closer. I saw the lights from the house before I saw the house itself. It was a warm glow through the trees. I made sure to stay a good distance away. I grabbed hold of a branch in a near-by tree and lifted myself off the ground. I climbed as high as I could and made myself comfortable. I just needed to watch. I needed to know what and who I was dealing with. A part of me was screaming that I was here for one person in particular. I'll admit, I was disappointed when I didn't see her in the house. I saw Carlisle sat at a desk, reading a huge textbook. Edward was downstairs at a piano and everyone else seemed to be sat around the TV, playing what looked like Call of Duty. I smirked. From here they looked like a normal family. I felt a little dirty spying on them like this, then I reminded myself they weren't normal. They were like me, different. I pushed those feelings down and scanned the house. I was making mental notes of all of them. How big they were, how intelligent they seemed. I was so deep in my mental notes that I didn't feel the eyes on the back of my head.

"I'm not in there you know." I spun around, almost falling off the branch. Alice was one tree over, sat cross-legged on a moss covered branch.

"Stay away from me." That's right Bella, act tough even though you almost just voided your bowels .

"I was staying away from you. You came to my house." She was smiling sweetly. I didn't like it, it made everything cloudy. I could smell her sweet scent. Roses, lilies, cinnamon.

"I...what are you?" Now was as good a time as any to get the answers I so desperately wanted.

Alice giggled innocently, rocking back slightly on her branch. On impulse I leant forward, wanting to make sure she didn't fall back, but she was always in control of herself and kept herself firmly on the thick branch.

"Do you really want to know?" I don't know what was happening. A few hours ago this girl was the enemy. I was getting frustrated. I nodded furiously at her. I didn't want to know. I needed to know.

"Well catch me if you can then." She dropped down off her branch and hit the ground running. I chased after her. She was fast. She pulled ahead instantly, weaving her way through the trees. She was mouse-like in her movements. Smooth, slightly bouncy and playful. She kept looking back at me, smiling and laughing, I couldn't help but smile back. Without realising it, this had become a game, I was having fun!

I was gaining on Alice, my strides were bigger than hers and I was closing the distance between us. Soon I could almost reach out and touch her. I did. I grabbed her around her arm and spun her round to face me.

"Got you!" I beamed triumphantly, I was breathing heavily, my heart was thumping in my ears and I could feel the blood pooling in my cheeks. I had the biggest grin on my face and it was matched by Alice.

"So you did." She reached up and pulled a small twig out from my hair. How embarrassing! Bella the feral child. I grinned sheepishly and slowly released my grip from her arms. She didn't step back, she didn't move an inch.

"What do you think I am Bella?" Beautiful...did I think that or did I say it? I froze. She didn't react so it must only have been a thought.

"Urm...little? I honestly don't know. I've seen enough in my life to know that anything is possible. I'm leaning towards robot." She laughed loudly and I got a blast of her cool breath in my face. I inhaled deeply, savouring the flavour. What was wrong with me? I stepped away slightly.

"I'm not a robot. I'm something else."

"Yeah that's the popular opinion." She looked at me with a puzzled expression on her face. I was beginning to wonder why I wasn't on guard, or in a defensive position or at least.

"Let me give you some clues. I have no heart beat. I am exceptionally fast and strong. I have unbelievable hearing. I can see three miles in pitch blackness. I've met Charlie Chaplin." The odd one threw me. Charlie Chaplin, he had been dead for decades! Did he have a son? Was there a tribute act? The it hit me like a punch in the face. Fast, strong, no heart beat, Chaplin which meant she was old...no freaking way! I was scared I was going to pass out again. I stumbled backwards tripping over a hidden tree-root and falling towards the ground. Before I landed, Alice had jumped forward, a look of worry etched across he flawless features. Her arms wrapped around me and she cradled me gently, breaking my fall and holding me protectively against her body.

"It's not possible." I breathed my incredulity, verbalising my shock and comprehension. Alice's face fell, disappointment obvious. My heart sunk a little. How was all this possible?

I stretched my way out of her arms. Straightening myself out and inching backwards.

"I have to go." For the second time today, I turned my back on Alice Cullen and ran into the woods.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N. Everything belongs to Stephenie Meyer.  
Just to let you know, I'm a very sarcastic person, so don't take everything in this story seriously. Read it with a pinch of salt...not literally though, that could really mess up your computer.  
Thank you so much for the support as well. Every little helps, if it's a review or just a quick read, it all counts to me. Big thanks! Big love!  
Oh and this chapter contains a small homage to my favourite scene from the Twilight novel. See if you can spot it.**

**As always, please review.**

Chapter Four

I hadn't slept. My eyes were burning and my joints were stiff. I'd sat on my bed all night with my knees tucked into my chest and my arms wrapped around them trying to literally hold myself together. I wanted to scream, punch something, scream, run away, scream, hide under my bed, scream. Everything in my head was a mess!

She couldn't be. They weren't real, were they? She was just messing with me, right, yeah, a joke after I made the 'robot' comment. Wasn't she? I don't know! I don't have a clue! Do I want to know? Would life be simpler if the weird things could still be explained by science and mythology was still only alive in books? So many questions and I wasn't even at school!

I dragged myself off my bed and into the shower. I scrubbed and scrubbed my skin. Maybe the hot water could wash away last night. Maybe the water could introduce some clarity into my life. I was gasping for breath now. The water was burning my skin but I didn't move. I stood there and let it pound on my face and shoulders. The heat was good, it reminded me that I was awake and this wasn't some nightmare. After a few more minutes and with my skin violently red, I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around myself. I made my way back into my room and tried to decide on today's outfit. I pulled out a pair of dungaree-shorts, a red vest-top and my favourite pair of hiking boots. I dressed quickly and decided on plaiting my hair, letting it hang over my shoulder in a nice, neat braid. Satisfied with how I looked I made my way down stairs. Charlie was already up and dressed, he was talking on the phone. I went into the kitchen and poured myself some coffee, waiting for Charlie to finish. He held a finger up letting me know he was almost done. He laughed into the phone before hanging up and facing me.

"Going to school?" I shook my head. I didn't think it was the best idea to go to school given the events of yesterday. Charlie nodded but he had a look on his face that conflicted with his agreement.

"I'll call the school, tell them you have a doctors appointment or something. He ran his fingers over his moustache and I had to swallow a laugh. He looked so...cliché when he did that! I walked over to the sink and grabbed myself an apple from the basket at the side. I bite into it and felt the juice pool over my tongue. I chewed greedily and swallowed the apple-mush whilst watching Charlie shuffle about the house. He kept checking his gun, making sure he had his keys, wallet, phone. After patting down his pockets one last time he placed a sweet kiss on my cheek and headed out but not before reminding me that the shot gun was under his bed if I needed it. I rolled my eyes and waved him off.

Still munching on the apple, I wandered aimlessly around the kitchen before deciding to finish my snack outside. I opened the back door and sat on the small wooden steps. I finished the apple quickly and threw the core into the forest surrounding my house. I just sat there for a while. Letting the rising sun wash over me, watching as the wisps of morning-mist disappeared into the trees and listening to the birds and animals scurrying and flapping about.

What was I going to do? Should I tell Charlie about last night? I let my body slump forward slightly and rested my face in my hands.

"You could always run away..._yeah and where will that leave Charlie?..._All right then maybe tell him..._are you kidding? Charlie is the guy who'd take a bullet to protect me from the common cold! He might over-react to something like this..._Is it even possible to over-react to something like this? What's the perfect way to react?..._Probably not running away..._" I was talking to myself...or rather arguing with myself. It was something I'd done ever since I was young. Growing up there weren't a lot of people to talk to. If it wasn't orders to be obeyed or requests for blood samples then it was explanations about the correct procedure for snapping an enemy sentry's neck with your bare hands. Talking to myself was the only decent conversation I ever really had when I was growing up...well apart from my talks with Charlie.

I slowly let the air out of my lungs through my lips before drawing it back in deeply through my nose. Calming myself down, clearing my head, focusing on anything that wasn't unbelievable. I felt the blood flowing through my veins. I imagined watching a single blood cell as it made it's way around my body. Starting at my heart, making it's way past my lungs, down through my body and back up towards my head. It was kind of entertaining, in a weird, geeky way. When I felt my head was clearer and my thoughts weren't so jagged and crazy I let myself look up. It had turned into a beautiful day. There was barely a cloud in the sky, a light breeze, warm sunshine, and I had the day all to myself. I made sure my boots were on tight before getting off my step, locking the door behind me, and setting off into the trees.

I jogged at first, keeping a nice, steady pace. I felt free. The moss-covered trees became green blurs as I sped past them. Rabbits, squirrels and birds moved past me. I could feel the tightness in the air as the forest became more dense. The trees were packed tighter and closer together. I was getting to the 'wild' part of the forest. Through my panting and footsteps I could hear the rushing of water and the roaring as it crashed down a cliff and into a deep pool at the bottom. Waterfall. I loved waterfalls. I could literally spend days just watching the water rushing over the edge and trying to count the bubbles in the foam at the bottom. It was mesmerising, hypnotic, soothing. This was the first time I'd come across a waterfall in Forks. I sped off in the direction of the water. Weaving a path through the trees. My heart was thumping in anticipation. I was so excited! If I'd ever experienced a Christmas before, I imagined the excitement might have felt something like this. I could feel the extra moisture in the air. I was getting closer. A few seconds later I broke through the tree line and straight into a clearing. The water fall was beautiful! A perfect, cool blue, the foam at the bottom looked almost like snow. I gasped at it's beauty. I just stood there and marvelled at it for a moment. I wished I could just pick my house up and move it to this spot. I contemplated that for a moment and chuckled to myself as I had the mental image of Charlie carrying our house on his back and me telling him where to set it down. Letting the image pass, I walked towards the shores of the pool. There were a number of large boulders nearby. I leant against one and pulled my boots off. I pulled my vest over my head and pushed my dungaree-shorts down my legs. I let my clothes fall into a pile on top of my boots and walked towards water in only my underwear. The grass tickled my toes as I walked. There's really no feeling like grass under your bare feet.

I walked slowly into the pool of icy-cold water. I let it wash over my feet and I kept walking until I was waist deep in it. I slowly knelt down until the water was lapping at my chin. Closing my eyes I submerged myself, feeling the water rush over the top of my head and swallowing me whole. I sat cross-legged on the floor of the pool. I opened my eyes and blinked furiously as I got used to the cold water and the sting against my retinas. After a few seconds I could sit there comfortably. I watched as the water churned at the base of the water fall, I watched the fish swim by me. I watched as pieces of wood and leaves floated above me. I smiled to myself. The underwater world is truly beautiful. I was at peace until I noticed a shadowy figure at the edge of the pool.

How could someone sneak up on me? I must have let my guard slip. I stayed submerged, waiting to see what the shadowy figure did. They came closer, their image was distorted by the water. From under the pool it either looked like a two-headed man or a three-legged woman. I slowly allowed myself to rise out of the water until my eyes and the top portion of my face were free of it's waves. I frowned when I realised who it was and stood up angrily. I could feel my face turning red with fury.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I had my hands on my hips, digging my fingers into my wet skin, trying to keep myself calm and stop myself from doing something reckless.

"I just wanted to talk." Alice was standing next to rock where my clothes were. My clothes! It was then that I realised I was practically naked. Now my face wasn't red with rage but embarrassment. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to shield my body from her arms. She raised an eyebrow and gave me a weird look.

"What are you doing?" She took a step forward and I took a step back. I was extremely vulnerable right now

"Just get back Alice. Go back to your family. I'll stay away from you if you stay away from me. Everybody wins and nobody gets hurt." I was trying furiously to figure out a way out of this situation.

"I'm not going to hurt you Bella. I just want to talk." She sat on the rock and just looked at me. I lowered myself back into the water, trying to hide my naked body.

"We have nothing to talk about, Alice. Just go home, leave me alone." Her gaze fell and I felt a twinge of guilt. I quickly cemented over my guilt. I had to keep as far away from her as possible. I couldn't let her get close to me. I couldn't put myself and especially not Charlie in danger like that. I stood out of the water and walked purposefully towards Alice, or more specifically towards my clothes. Alice stepped away from the rock and looked away as I pulled my clothes on again. She didn't look back at me until I was tying the laces of my boots. I straightened myself out and stared Alice down. I utilised my height, squared my shoulders and took a firm stance. She couldn't intimidate me. She couldn't scare me. She couldn't beat me. Alice didn't blink though. She didn't back down, she didn't even break eye contact.

"We have plenty to talk about Bella. I told you my secret, it's only polite for you to return the favour." Her voice was sweet with the slightest hint of menace behind it.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I mimicked her tone of voice and batted my eyelashes at her. If she wants to play games then I'll go along, for now.

"Dammit Bella." Alice raised a fist and slammed it down against her thigh. I jumped slightly at the aggressive gesture. "Can't we just talk, like regular people?"

"You're not people Alice!" I was getting angry now!

"Neither are you! What the hell are you?" Her face was contorted in anger now. I could the blood pumping in my ears.

"None of you're fucking business!" I spat the words at her, putting as much anger and hate into them a possible.

"It is my business when you attack my family!"

"I was defending myself! I'd do it again in a heartbeat...you know heartbeats right? Something you don't have!" She looked surprised at my words, visibly stung.

"I know what I am Bella. I know what I have and haven't got. I have a family. I would kill to protect them. DO NOT underestimate me!" She was squaring off with me now. I could feel the tension on the air.

"You push me and I swear you won't get the chance to kill me. I'll put you in the ground." Alice growled at me. She actually growled, like a wild animal. She flicked her wrist out and caught my arm just above the elbow.

"You have no idea who are you are messing with little girl." She had hold of my arm, gripping it tightly. I could tell it was going to leave a bruise. I lashed out. Swinging my arm so her grip broke. I swung my other arm up between our bodies and grabbed Alice round her throat. In less than half a second I'd position my left leg just behind her body. I swung my right hip and used the momentum to propel her body onto the ground. I landed on-top of her. I tightened my grip around her throat and shifted my body so I was straddling her hips. Alice tried to claw at my face but I grabbed her wrists with my free left hand and pinned them against her stomach. She bucked her hips wildly, trying to flip me off her but I centred my weight weight and pushed her hips back down into the ground.

"Never, touch me again! We both know I'm not normal. And we both know I can defend myself. Don't force me!" To emphasise my point I tightened my grip on her wrists, making Alice hiss. Whether that was in frustration or pain I couldn't tell. I didn't want to get into a fight, but I wanted to make sure she understood my point. Keeping hold of her wrists I got to my feet and pulled Alice with me. I get her wrists pressed against her stomach and removed my hand from around her throat. I wrapped that arm around her body and pulled her close to me so she couldn't break free. We were millimetres apart. I could feel her breath on my lips.

"I don't want to fight you Alice. In about five seconds I'm going to let you go. I'm going to step back and you can walk away." She chewed on her lip and nodded her acknowledgement. I removed my arm from around her waist first, letting her shift her body away from mine. Then I released her wrists and took a big step back, holding my hands up in a peaceful gesture. Alice didn't move. She crossed her arms over her stomach and stayed rooted to the spot.

"Thank you for letting me go Bella. But I'm not leaving. I still have questions." I sighed in annoyance. She just wasn't getting it!

"I'm not answering any of your questions Alice! I can't!"

"I just need to know what you are! How can you...how can you do what you do?" She was gesturing at me furiously with her hands.

"I'm not normal and I'm not like you Alice, can't you just accept that?"

"No I can't!" We were scowling furiously at each other now, the silence began to fill the space between us.

"You're not going to leave me alone until you find out are you?"

"No I'm not." She jutted her chin out slightly.

"Well then I hope you enjoy disappointment." I turned on my heels and tried to walk out of the clearing but Alice was in front of me in an instant.

"Bella wait, I was honest with you. I've never told anyone that before but I told you."

"Great so it was a reciprocal agreement then?" I huffed at her, trying to side-step her body but she moved in the same direction, blocking my path again.

"No, no, I didn't mean it like that. I meant I thought you deserved to know the truth. I want to be honest with you, I want to get to know, to be your friend!" I was stunned by her words. I took a step back. Friend? What?

"I don't...I don't need any friends." What was this? Some kind of mind game? Was she trying to manipulate me? I tried to turn around and run the other way but she was there. I turned again and again and again...she was always there!

"Why won't you just leave me alone?" I was shouting now, I was straining my voice so much that my throat was beginning to sting.

"I can't Bella!" She took a step closer to me. I was so frustrated now that I could feel the tears starting to prick the corner of my eyes.

"Stay back Alice!"

"I'm not going to hurt you." She kept inching closer.

"You're a fucking Vampire! I'm a snack to you! Don't give me that bullshit about not hurting me."

She stopped moving for about a second. I saw this and darted to the side but she was there again!

"I'm not what you think Bella. I don't hurt people, I'm not a monster."

"Vampire...monster...is there a difference?" Alice began to shake slightly. I'd angered her.

She took a furious step towards me. "I am not a monster!" Her hands were in tight fists by her side. I felt like I should apologise but I swallowed the urge.

"Then what are you?"

"I'm a mistake! A walking corpse! An affront to nature! I can't choose what I am but I can choose what I do. I choose not to hurt people. I choose to try and live a better life. I fight every second of every day to not be a monster. My family and I, we're different. We're not like others of our kind. We value life and humanity. I value keeping hold of what little humanity I have left!" She was pointing her finger angrily at me now. On impulse I stepped back from her. Alice noticed this and visibly calmed down. She lowered her arm and flexed her fingers.

"I'm sorry if I frightened you." She lowered her gaze and scuffed the ground with her feet. A huge part of me wanted to tell her everything. I wanted to tell her all about myself, what I'd been through, what I was...but I couldn't. It wasn't safe, not just for me. Charlie had always told me that if anyone ever found out about the Institute, it was like giving them a death sentence.

"It takes more than that to frighten me." I steeled my gaze even though she wasn't looking at me. I guess I just did it for effect.

"Bella I just...I don't know, I guess I just want someone I don't have to lie to." She was pleading with me now. I could hear the strain in her voice.

"Why me Alice?"

"Because you have a secret too. Maybe you could understand..." Her voice trailed off and she lifted her face to look at me. She looked into my eyes and I saw hers darken slightly.

"Alice I understand secrets. I understand fear and loneliness. I understand completely. Which is why you should understand I can't." She nodded, I saw her jaw tighten and she looked back at me.

"Maybe just friends then? You know my secret and I forget yours?" She had a sad smile on her face now. She was still pleading, just not as desperately as before.

"I don't know Alice...I...I've got to go." I walked towards her. She didn't stop me this time. She stepped aside and let me pass. Just as I got level with her she reached out slowly and took my hand. She squeezed it gently and rubbed her thumb along mine.

"I'm sorry Bella." She smiled weakly, and then she was gone. I felt something in my fingers. She'd slipped a note into my hand. I lifted it up and unfolded the small piece of paper slowly. As I opened it up it released the faint scent of Alice. I turned it over in my fingers and saw a row of numbers written in elegant script on the paper. It was a cell-phone number with a short message.

"_Whenever you want a friend"._ I smiled to myself and tucked the note into my pocket. I headed back towards the trees and made my way home.

That night I fell into a deep sleep. That night, I dreamt of Alice.


	5. Chapter 5

**A.N. Twilight etc. belongs to Stephenie Meyer  
Thank you so, so much for all the reviews and positive feedback. And for those with the negative feedback, I appreciate it and I'll work on the issues that have been pointed out.**

**Anyway, up to now, it's basically been exposition, if things go to plan, from here on in everything will be a little juicier.  
Oh and some people have been confused about how Bella is resisting/avoiding Alice but then has moments of weakness and smiles etc...well I'm trying to portray Bella as having the skills and knowledge to be a heartless killer, but not the intentions...kind of like Alice. They're both still clinging to their humanity. Just bear that in mind...it might make more sense then.**

**Enjoy and review please!**

Chapter Five

When I made my way downstairs in the morning I found Charlie sat on the sofa, nursing a cup of coffee and watching the morning news. He heard the bottom step creak as I stood on it and turned his head, smiling me a morning greeting.

"Morning Bells, I made fresh coffee." He lifted his mug to prove his point. I shuffled into the kitchen and poured myself a mug, dumping in a few spoonfuls of sugar before joining Charlie on the sofa. I just stared at the black liquid, watching the steam snake its way out of the mug and disappear into the atmosphere. After a few moments of silence I placed my mug on the floor at my feet and turned slightly to face Charlie.

"Charlie can I ask you something?" He gave me a sideways glance before putting the TV on mute.

"Sure Bells, what's up? Is it about the other day?" I shrugged my shoulders at him, I really wasn't good at talking about, well, anything really.

"It's just...well...Charlie do you miss having friends or a life?" He looked shocked, he probably would have looked better if I'd asked him about sex!

"Well...urm...what's brought this up Bella?" He was clearly uncomfortable.

"I just...part of fitting in is blending in. Blending in means spending time with people, means making friends. I've never had a friend before. You always told me to protect myself."

Charlie smiled at me sadly. He reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

"Bella, protecting yourself doesn't mean isolating yourself from the world. You can't stay under a rock for the next sixty years. You have to get out there, we've done everything we can to make sure you're not recognisable to any facial recognition software. Just...keep your cards close to your chest but don't fold every hand you're played." I stared at him blankly. What the hell was he talking about? He saw my look of confusion.

"What I mean is, don't be too scared of what might happen to experience what could happen." OK, that made a little more sense.

"Thanks Charlie, that helped a lot."

"Any time Bells."

I gulped down my coffee in one mouthful and headed back upstairs to get dressed. So Charlie wasn't against me having friends. Was he against me having a friend who wasn't human? Well I'd cross that bridge if I came to it. I had a quick shower and tied my hair into the same style plait it had been in yesterday. Back in my room, I pulled on my favourite ripped jeans and rummaged round for a clean t-shirt. I found a plain green t-shirt, it clung to my body in a way that made me slightly self-conscious but I had nothing else to wear. I checked my school timetable and saw that I had a free period at the end of the day. Thank heaven for small mercy's. I saw the note from Alice on the corner of my night stand. What was I going to do about her? Maybe it would be nice to have a friend whose hand I could shake without worrying if I broke their fingers.

I grabbed the note and shoved it into my pocket. I pulled my boots on and grabbed my bag before heading downstairs. Charlie looked at me as he pulled his jacket on.

"School?"

"School." Charlie nodded at me, twirled his keys round his fingers and held the door open for me. I grabbed a combat-style jacket off the hook behind the door and headed out towards the cruiser. I jumped in the passenger side and pulled my seatbelt on. Charlie locked up the front door and got into the drivers side. We were soon on our way to Forks High.

"I'm picking up a truck for you today Bella."

"A truck?" Charlie looked at me quickly before fixing his eyes back on the road.

"Yes a truck, something for you to drive, get around in." I rolled my eyes at him and his version of humour.

"Thanks Charlie, it means a lot. How about I cook dinner tonight. Chilli OK?" I'd really gotten into cooking. There was a certain freedom in making your own meals, a freedom I enjoyed.

"Thanks Bella. I'll be back about 6:30 tonight" We spent the rest of the journey in silence. Charlie pulled up outside the main school building. He asked if I'd be OK getting home and I told him I would. He wrapped an arm around me, giving me a strong hug and kissing me softly on the top of my head. I felt his body tighten and he froze for a moment. I looked around to see what caught his attention and saw the Cullens crowded around a couple of cars near the main entrance. They were all looking over this way. Alice was staring right at me, Rosalie, was giving me an evil sneer, Jasper looked uncomfortable, Emmett looked slightly curious and Edward, well Edward looked furious.

"Be careful Bella. They'd be stupid to try anything in public but don't give them a chance anyway. Try and get some intel if you can." I nodded my understanding. Charlie liked to know his enemy. He kissed my head again and released me. I climbed out of the cruiser and knocked on the door, signally for him to leave. I waved him off as he left the school grounds again. Pulling my backpack onto my shoulders I walked towards the school, I kept my head high, letting the Cullens know they didn't intimidate me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Edward take a step towards me before Alice blocked his path. They exchanged a few words. Whatever was said left Edward with a look of what can only be described as shame on his face whilst Alice looked beyond angry. I kept walking into the school, catching the eye of Angela as I walked past. She strode over to me and began to walk towards class with me.

"Hey Bella, we missed you yesterday. I hope you're all right." I smiled at her.

"I'm OK. I just had to see my therapist. Last session of grief counselling." I knew that as soon as anyone mentioned a therapist that questions would not be asked. I wasn't disappointed. Angela just nodded her head and kept walking. I waved her off as she headed to her first class of the day. Mine was double art. I made my way through the corridors towards the art studio. I found the studio and pulled the sheet out of my bag that I had to get my teachers to sign. I walked up to the teacher who introduced herself as Miss Kennedy. She smiled broadly at me, she had crazy, red curly hair that was tied up in a bun. Odd strands hung down the back of her neck, making her look like a bowl of curly fries. She told me where all the art supplies were kept, showed me where the aprons were hung and then directed me towards my seat. I thanked her and turned around. Then I froze in my tracks. Sat right in front of me, next to only empty seat in class (why was there ever only one empty seat left?) was Alice Cullen! Great, two hours trapped next to Alice Cullen! I gritted my teeth and chewed the inside of my cheek. I stomped over to her and dropped my bag to the floor a little more angrily than I intended, making the kids around me jump. I sat in my chair and folded my arms across my chest, refusing to look at Alice.

"Bella." Alice greeted me politely.

"Alice." I replied coldly, staring straight ahead of me. I concentrated on Miss Kennedy as she wrote the lesson plan on the board. Life art, specifically hands and faces, the most expressive parts of the human body. As soon as she'd finished explaining the lesson I jumped out of my chair and went to the supplies cupboard. I pulled a few sheets of paper out and grabbed a handful of pencils and some charcoal and made my way through the crowd of other students and back to my desk. Alice hadn't moved. I placed some paper in front of her and positioned the pencils and charcoal in-between us.

"Thank you Bella." I allowed myself to glance at her, she smiled at me and tilted her head slightly.

"You're welcome." I didn't return her smile. Sitting down I picked up a pencil, took a couple of seconds to decide what to draw and decided to focus on eyes for the moment. I moved my pencil across the paper, sketching out the rough outline of the eyes. As I started to add the details I noticed that Alice was watching me. I lifted my pencil away from the paper and faced her.

"What?" She flinched slightly at the tone of my voice.

"Nothing it's just...that's very good." She nodded her head in the direction of my paper. I glanced down at my sketch and then back at her.

"Oh, OK. Urm, thanks. Yours are pretty good too." I nodded at her paper to illustrate her point. We both went back to our work after that.

"Bella," I looked around but Alice wasn't looking at me. Maybe I was hearing things. I shrugged it off.

"Bella, I know you can hear me." It was Alice! She was whispering. Her voice was so quiet that if I was a 'regular' girl I'd never have heard her. I didn't respond to her, I just kept sketching my eyes.

"Look, I just wanted to apologise. I've been pushy and demanding. I'm sorry." Against my better judgement I let myself respond to her.

"Thank you Alice." She lowered her head and continued whispering to me.

"If you can forgive me, I'd like us to try and be friends?" I turned to look at her now. Her beautiful golden eyes stared back into mine. I was memorising her face. I'd never seen anything quite like it. Her face was so perfect. If I'd dreamt Alice up, my subconscious couldn't have done a better job than what nature had.

"I...it's complicated Alice." She began nodding her head slowly, I think she was beginning to understand.

"OK. How about acquaintances then?" Now I was puzzled. I raised an eyebrow, questioning what she meant. She was kind enough to explain her the meaning behind her words to me.

"We act civil to each other, we exchange polite conversation and see what happens from there."

"That's...acceptable." Alice smiled triumphantly and it took my breath away. It was one of those smile that literally reached her eyes. They brightened, widened and became more beautiful. I smiled back., not quite managing to let my smile reach my own eyes.

"So Bella, my name's Alice Cullen, pleased to meet you." I sniggered quietly to myself.

"Pleased to meet you too." She extended her hand under the desk and I shook it quickly.

"So...what hobbies and interests do you have Bella?" I racked my brain for a safe answer.

"Well...I like running, swimming, reading, cooking, watching old movies..." Alice nodded after I listed off each interest.

"Interesting. I'd say you're also a keen artist." She pointed her pencil towards my paper. I shrugged her comment off.

"Not really, just something I've picked up. You're the one who looks like a future Picaso."

"You mean I have an ear missing?" She started patting at the sides of her head in mock-fear and I couldn't contain my giggle. It jumped out of my mouth before I realised what was happening and I had to clamp my mouth over my lips to stop the whole class looking in my direction.

Alice sniggered at her own joke and we carried on with the class in silence. About fifteen minutes before the end Alice passed me a note.

"_Want to hang out at lunch?" _Her elaborate script would have looked at home in a medieval bible. On the small strip of paper the innocent sentence looked like an intimate message. I quickly scribbled my reply in my own scruffy handwriting.

"_I'm not sure. Do acquaintances lunch together?"_ She slipped the paper out from under my hand just as I finished writing my reply and began jotting down hers.

"_I promise we'll just have boring small-talk about the weather and various sports teams and their performances this season."_ I read the message as she wrote it and repeated her actions. Sliding the paper from under her hand the moment she'd finished writing her message. I kept my reply short and sweet.

"_Not today.." _If Alice was disappointed she didn't show it. She just smiled and we carried on with the lesson.

-

The days passed and turned into weeks. We repeated the ritual every Double Art Lesson of every Wednesday for over a month. We talked, we joked, we helped each other with our work. And Alice always asked me if I wanted to hang out. One day I couldn't say no any more. When she asked me if I wanted to hang out at lunch I slipped her a note back.

"_OK." _Alice smiled as she read it and managed to write her reply before the bell began screeching out in the hall-way. She slid the note over to me as she packed her belongings and made her way out of the studio. I turned the note over in my fingers and read her message.

"_Great, it's a date. Meet me around the back of the gym." _She'd also drawn a small smiley face at the end of her message but for some reason I couldn't take my eyes off the word '_date'_. I read that word over and over again, repeating it in my head about seventy times. Why did it capture my attention so effectively, and why was my mouth dry?

-

A hour later after the lunch bell rang I made my way towards the school car-park. Angela passed me in the corridor and invited me along to lunch but I waved her off, apologised and said I'd already made plans. She smiled and said she'd see me later. I made my way outside and towards the gym. As I rounded the corner I saw Alice pacing slowly beside one of the walls. She was walking heel-to-toe along an invisible line. As she turned and saw me she smiled broadly and bounced over.

"Good afternoon my acquaintance. Terrible weather we're having lately." I grinned back at her and went along with her game.

"Oh I don't know, it could be worse. It might be cloudy but at least it isn't raining."

"True, true," Alice nodded her head dramatically in agreement.

"So how about those sports teams hey? They sure are doing well this year!" I giggled at her attempts at small talk. Then I quickly reminded myself of what Charlie had said earlier this morning. I had to be careful.

"So, Alice, what do you want to do?" I tucked my hands in my pockets and racked back and forth on the balls of my feet.

"Well, to be honest Bella, I have an urge to climb trees. Want to join me?" Before I could reply she skipped past me. Her optimism and joy was infectious and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop the small smile from creeping it's way onto my lips. I tucked my hands deeper into my pockets and followed Alice towards the trees. By the time I'd caught up to her, she was already scurrying through the branches. I grabbed hold of a branch above my head and swung myself up. Wrapping my legs around the branch I swung my body round to a sitting position. I clambered up a few branches higher and found a nice, thick limb. I sat on the branch and spread my legs out in front of me, resting my back against the trunk of the tree. I watched as Alice climbed over and under branches. She made it to the very top of the tree. I saw her grab at something and then she started making her way back down to my level. She approached my branch and I folded my legs beneath me, making room for her to either pass me by or join me. She chose to join me. She swung her legs over either side of the branch, swinging them playfully as she sat in front of me.

"I got you a present." She held her hand out and handed me a small twig with a perfect triangle of pine needles at the top.

"What...?"

"It's the very top of the tree! So you can say you touched the sky today." I tilted my head at her, unsure of how to take the gesture.

"Urm, thank you Alice. It was very thoughtful." She nodded politely at me.

"Bella, can I ask you a question?" Here we go again!

"Alice..."

"No, not about that, I promise." I began to frown but nodded.

"Why are you here?" I was taken aback a little.

"You mean in Forks?"

"No I mean here, in this tree, with me. You know what I am. Why aren't you running for your life or gathering villagers and pitchforks?" I just looked at her weirdly as I tried to come up with an answer.

"To be honest, you're not the scariest thing I've ever come across Alice." She looked at me with sadness in her eyes.

"If that's true than I'm sorry."

"What? What are you apologising for?"

"Well, you were chased through a forest by a group of vampires. You were kept in a strange house by the same group of vampires. And to top it all off...you found out that vampires exist. To most people that would be pretty traumatic, to say the least. If you've experienced anything that tops that then I am genuinely sorry for what you've been through." Her voice was dripping with sincerity. I searched her face for any sign of deception or to see if she was mocking me but there was none. She was being genuine.

"You don't need to apologise. I don't need your sympathy Alice."

"I didn't mean to offend you Bella. I just can't imagine anything that could have steeled someone against a revelation like that."

"Stop trying to imagine it Alice, you're never going to find out and if you're waiting for me to tell you then you've got a long and pointless time ahead of you." I felt the anger seeping into my voice. I began breathing deeply, trying to remain calm.

"I'm not interrogating you. I'm not attacking you. I'm just trying to get to know you."

"Why? Keep your friends close and keep your enemies closer?"

"You're not my enemy Bella. You couldn't understand my reasons."

"Try me." Alice looked angry now.

"Why the hell should I be honest with you when you won't return the favour with me?" She had a point there. I lowered my gaze and started picking at the bark of the branch in front of me.

"Bella, I'm sorry for snapping. I'm not doing too good at this am I?" I smiled weakly at her.

"It's OK. I'm not really good with other people." She raised her eyebrow at me a the word 'people'.

"You know what I mean." I said rolling my eyes at her. She giggled and we just sat there in silence for a while. I had this over-whelming urge to spill my guts about everything. A voice inside my head was telling me I could trust Alice, that she wouldn't betray me. I pushed it all to the back of my mind with a slight shake of my head.

"Don't move Bella." On instinct I froze, my back straightening involuntarily. Alice started to lean towards me, what was she doing? She was inching closer and closer. Our faces were only centimetres apart now. She slowly lifted her hand to my face and pressed her forefinger gently just below my right eye. Pulling it back I saw that there was an eyelash perched on the tip of her finger. I looked up from the eyelash and saw Alice was looking at me intently.

"Make a wish." She held her finger just in front of my lips. What did she want me to do? I looked at her quizzically.

"Blow the eyelash away and make a wish." I slowly exhaled on the tip of her finger and saw the eyelash flutter away towards the ground. I smiled to myself, my first ever wish! I looked to Alice and saw her eyes were closed and she had a slightly lop-sided grin on her face.

"Alice?" She rocked out of her reverie and looked towards me.

"Did you make a good wish?" I opened my mouth to begin to speak but was quickly silenced by her finger over my lips.

"No, wait, don't tell me or it won't come true!" I nodded my head, my lips moving against her cold finger. Alice's eyes darkened slightly and her hand slowly moved slid along my jaw and cradled my cheek. She began to stroke her thumb just under my eye. It was so soothing, her cool skin against my fiery hot skin. I leant into her hand, unable to control myself.

"You always have such a look of forlorn,hopelessness in your eyes Bella. I wish I could take all the pain away."

"Alice I..." I stopped myself. I was just about to tell her. I was just about to tell her everything! What the fuck? I hastily knocked her hand away from my face. She looked shocked.

"Alice I can't be around you! You get into my head and I can't have that. It's not safe!"

"Bella I can take care of myself. Whatever you're hiding from, I can help, I can protect you. Please just let me help you." She reached out for my face again but I took hold of her wrists and lowered her hands.

"You can't help me Alice. And if you knew, you wouldn't want to."

"Bella, I'm a 110 year old Vampire. I live with, six other vampires. I can handle whatever it is. And in a century of life on this planet, I might have picked up a few things to help."

"Why are you so determined to help me Alice? Am I just your good deed for the day?"

"Bella...it's complicated." She lowered her gaze. I decided to use her own line against her.

"Why should I be honest with you when you won't return the favour with me?" She gave me a lopsided look.

"Well played Bella. Can't we just be honest with each other?" At that moment my phone started to vibrate. I dug it out of my pocket and saw it was a call from Charlie. I narrowed my eyes and lifted the phone to my ear.

"Hello? Charlie?"

"_Bella, Hi. Listen I did a bit of digging. There's a local rumour about those Cullens."_

"Really?"

"_The Quileutes have these old tales about people they call The Cold Ones. I did some checking around, and this isn't the first time the Cullens have been in this area. The last time was almost eighty years ago."_ I sat there, my mouth slightly open as Charlie explained everything he'd learned. Rumours he'd heard. People he'd spoken too.

"_Vampires Bella. I think they're actually vampires."_ I didn't respond for a moment.

"_...Bella?"_

"I know Charlie." Now he was silent. It was the kind of silence that was either anger or fear.

"_Be careful."_ Then the phone was dead. From the look on her face I could tell Alice had heard everything.

"This is not good." She looked panicked. Her eyes were wide.

"Alice what's wrong?"

"People aren't supposed to know about us. It's not safe. We'll have to leave again!" She was beginning to ramble. I took hold of her face, forcing her to look at me.

"Alice, Charlie will not say anything! He just wants to keep me safe." She nodded her face in my hands. My eyes drifted down towards her lips. They were so perfectly shaped, a deep red. My heart started to beat faster. I shifted back a bit. Uncomfortable in this new situation. Then it dawned on me. We needed information. Alice wanted information. Charlie and I couldn't spend the foreseeable future looking over our shoulder for two enemies.

"Alice, tonight, I'll bring Charlie over. Both our families have a lot of explaining to do." She looked at me in confusion.

"You mean...?"

"If you still want to know, I'll tell you everything if you do the same."

The rest of the day went by in a bit of a haze. I zombied my way through my remaining classes. Charlie had almost literally exploded when I told him my plan. He wasn't happy when I explained about how I'd snuck out the house and learned about Alice and the Cullens. He especially wasn't happy that I'd kept it from him. When I explained that maybe the Cullens could help us he grudgingly agreed. He refused to come without any weapons though. At 8pm, after we'd eaten and I'd washed everything up. We clambered into my truck. A battered, old, slightly rusted-round-the-edges, Chevy. It had character. I loved it.

Charlie hid a shotgun in the truck cab and made sure to take his handgun and a knife with him. I wasn't sure how much use they would be against the Cullens but if it made him feel better I wouldn't say anything. He also had a back pack filled with files and other assorted evidence to corroborate our story. We drove in silence. I followed the directions Alice had written down for me earlier. And we were soon pulling up outside the beautiful Cullen house.

They were all there to greet us. Alice looked excited, Carlisle and Esme had polite and expectant looks on their faces. Rosalie and Edward did not look happy at all, whilst Jasper looked passive and Emmett had the same amused look on his face that he always seemed to have

We introduced ourselves. Charlie and Carlisle exchanged polite handshakes. I said 'Hi' to all of the Cullens and was surprised with a hug from Alice. Rosalie and Edward both narrowed their eyes at me. I felt uncomfortable and disentangled myself from Alice's arms as quickly as I could. It was all a bit of a blur. My heart was pounding in my ears and I could hear Charlie's heart was beating faster than usual. I took his hand and squeezed it slightly and then followed the Cullens into their house. We were directed towards their dinning room. Their was an elegant Oak table, one of those elongated tables that was built for large families. There were ten high back chairs around the table. Carlisle and Esme sat on one side, Edward sat the head and Rosalie at the bottom. Emmett and Jasper took the empty seats next to Carlisle and Esme whilst Charlie and I sat opposite them. Alice took the empty seat next to myself. She smiled supportively at me.

"Well, welcome to our home Chief Swan, and welcome back Bella." Carlisle smiled at us politely whilst Esme nodded along with his words.

"Thanks for having us I guess." Charlie was being his usual gruff self.

"I understand that explanations are in order." Everyone around the table either murmured or nodded their agreement.

"Well, as a show of faith, allow us to go first." Carlisle shifted his position in his seat so he was now resting his elbows on the table. He began a speech about vampirism, something about venom, vegetarianism, several other V words. I wasn't paying much attention. I was too nervous. Charlie was still squeezing my hand. I was dreading when my turn would come. From the snippets I'd gather, Carlisle and his family didn't eat from humans. They had a strictly animal diet. They wanted to live not just exist...blah...blah...blah. Then it was my turn.

"So, Chief Swan, Bella, now you know everything."

"Thank you for that Dr Cullen." I looked at Charlie. I knew Charlie. When he put a title in front of a last name it meant he either liked or respected the person. So Carlisle had won Charlie over. Charlie looked at me. He wasn't sure if I was ready, he was worried. I nodded at him, I wasn't happy about it, but I was ready.

I looked at all the occupants of the table. The looks from Rosalie and Edward sent shivers down my spine. I shrugged it off. I took a deep breath, and then another and another. I slowed my heart-rate down and stared intently at the table in front of me. Charlie let go of my hand and began to rub my shoulders in support. I clasped my hands together in front of me, closed my eyes and let my mouth open.

"I'm not normal. I'm...I mean I was...I was designed by the government as part of a secret military programme to create a genetically superior super-soldier." There was silence all around me. I couldn't bring myself to look up so I continued talking.

"I don't have parents in the strictest sense. I have genetic donors. Six of them actually. I'm designed to be stronger, faster, smarter and deadlier than is humanly possible. I was raised in a government facility called the Institute. The doctors and soldiers kept us locked up. They trained us, perfect us. Made us deadly. Charlie was my minder. He's the reason I'm here today. He rescued me. He got me out. We've been running ever since." There was silence. Long, torturous minutes of silence.

"I...well Bella that's quite a tale."

"It's not a tale." Charlie began digging around his bag. He pulled out a large file that was very familiar to me. I'd poured over it a thousand times. It was my life. Every day of every month of every year I'd spent in the Institute was documented in that file. Charlie slid it across the table to Carlisle who quickly picked it up and began scanning the pages inside. I could feel Alice's eyes on me. I couldn't look at anyone. I felt so scared, nervous, ashamed. This was my dirty secret. I'd never told anyone before now. To a certain extent I hadn't even admitted it to myself, I'd always tried to hide it, deny it, tried to be normal. There was no hiding it now.

"This is...this is unbelievable! I'd feared humanity would want to travel down this route, I just never expected it to actually be approved." I wasn't sure if Carlisle was talking to anyone in particular or just verbalising his own thoughts.

"Wait, they gave you drugs as well?" Charlie began digging in his bag again. He pulled out a small vial and slide it Carlisle.

"Performance enhancers. All of the children were injected three times a week with that."

"Wait, children? More than just Bella?" Esme sounded concerned.

"There were nine of us." I heard a slight gasp from the female members of the table whilst Jasper and Emmett growled quietly.

"I couldn't get the others. There wasn't time...their minders were so fanatical!" I heard a quiet dripping noise. Charlie had started to cry. The tears were falling down his cheeks in a steady stream.

"You couldn't have done anything more than you did Charlie." I took his hand in mine and put as much love as I could into my voice.

"Bella, do you mind if I look over all of this?" I looked to Carlisle as he tapped the file. I nodded my consent and he smiled warmly at me.

"How on earth could anyone do that to babies?" It was the first time I'd heard Rosalie speak! Even in anger her voice was absolutely beautiful.

"We weren't babies to them. We were experiments, future soldiers. We were weapons that had to be built and maintained."

"It's just not right, it's not human! People think vampires are monsters!" Emmett reached over and took a grip of Rosalie's shoulder.

"Rose, it's OK." She looked at him, rested her head against his arm and smiled. So they were a couple.

"Thank you for sharing this with us Bella. I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for you." Esme was looking at me with concern. Then she blinked furiously.

"Oh dear, how could I forget? You two must be hungry or thirsty. Can I get you anything?" She rose from the table and started walking towards the kitchen.

"I'd love some coffee if you've got some." Charlie sat back in his chair. He looked a lot more comfortable now. Everyone rose from the table after that. Carlisle gave me a squeeze on the shoulder and invited Charlie to follow him into the kitchen for his coffee, Rosalie gave me a sad smile before clenching her jaw and being led away by Emmett. Edward and Jasper left the room with a simple nod of their heads. That left just me and Alice.

"Would you like to do something Bella?" I shook my head.

"Would you like a drink?" I shook my head.

"Something to eat?" I shook my head.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" I thought for a moment.

"That sounds nice." We both stood and headed through the kitchen for the back door. Charlie was laughing with Esme and Carlisle. It made me smile to actually see him laugh with someone other than the TV.

The cold night air was a comfort. It blew away all the emotions and washed over me. I followed Alice around the house in silence. She made her way towards an old tyre swing. She held it out for me and I sat on it obediently. We acted like regular people for a while. Alice pushed me, she twisted the rope holding the tyre letting me twirl and spin, making me squeal in delight. It was perfect. It made everything that had just happened seem like a bad dream.

Alice pushed me a little too hard, the tyre tilted and I fell to the ground in hysterical giggles. I lay on the ground, my body shaking with laughter.

"Oh my god! Bella! Are you OK?" Alice rushed over to me, helping me to my feet. I was laughing so hard though that I fell right back down.

"I'm OK Alice, really." I managed to calm myself down, I wiped the tears that were starting to pool in the corner of my eyes away.

"Thank you Alice." She looked confused.

"What for?" She held her hand out again and I took it. She pulled me to my feet and I jumped up and landed right in front of her, I was a little wobbly on my feet so she wrapped her spare hand round my waist and steadied me.

"Thank you for making me feel normal." She smiled sweetly at me, released my waist and stepped back.

"Any time." I smiled back at her. There was still a question that I needed answered.

"Alice, I need to ask you something." Her smile fell slightly but she nodded her head in agreement.

"Why do you care? Why do you want to know me, help me?" She lowered her gaze and I heard her take a small gulp of air.

"Well it's complicated."

"Alice, you're talking to a designer-baby. I'm good with complicated."

"Well, I saw you." Her voice was barely more than a whisper.

"Saw me? When? At school?"

"No, eighteen months ago." I was really confused now.

"I saw you eighteen months ago for the first time. You were sleeping, you were crying in your sleep and thrashing around in your bed. I've seen you every day since then. Always the same. Always crying in your sleep. You always looked so sad or scared. I just wanted to find you. Help you. Stop the tears."

"Alice, what are you talking about...?"

"I...well I see the future. I saw you coming." Things were getting weird again.

"You, you saw me coming?" She nodded her head. I hadn't realised that I'd started to move closer to her. My heart was pounding. The world was fading away and Alice was become clearer, brighter.

"What else have you seen Alice?"

"I saw who wins the Best Actress Oscar this year. I see the stock market trends. I see the weather.."

"About me Alice. What else have you seen about me?" She lowered her gaze and clamped her mouth shut.

"Tell me please" I was centimetres away from her now. Everything else had disappeared; there was only me and her.

"I've seen...I've seen what I've wanted to do ever since I first saw you crying in your sleep. I've seen what I've been trying so hard not to see. I've seen what I want more than anything I've ever wanted."

My heart was pounding harder now. She wasn't looking at me. She was looking at her feet. I was standing over her. I could see her bottom lip twitching.

"What Alice?" She looked up at me. Her golden eyes locked on mine and stopped my heart. She raised herself onto her tip toes, inching her face closer to mine. Her gaze had shifted to my lips. I couldn't move. Her lips were almost touching mine now.

"I've seen us standing in this exact spot. I've seen you asking me that question. And I've seen me doing this." She closed the distance and gently pressed her lips to mine. All my thoughts were silenced. My eyes closed and I pressed my lips back against hers. She placed her hands on my hips and I moved my hand up to hold her face. Her skin was so firm and smooth. Her lips were cold-jewels. I melted into her. It felt like I was floating. Electricity was running through my lips. I'd never felt anything like it. The kiss didn't last long enough. Barely ten seconds. Then we broke apart. The world started coming back to me. Alice was smiling. I felt the blood rush to my face and I smiled back at her.


	6. Chapter 6

**A.N. Everything Belongs to Stephenie Meyer**

**From now on, things are going to move quicker.  
I promise.  
Oh and this chapter is going to be a little different to other chapters. Be warned!**

**Read and review! Any ideas or comments, feel free to pass them on. If I like them, I might include them!**

Chapter Six

For the past couple of weeks I'd spent most of time hanging out with Alice and the Cullens. I'd talk with Alice, Rosalie would give me mechanical tips for my truck, Emmett would always try and get me to wrestle with him, Edward remained distant and Jasper...well Jasper and I would talk about military history. He used to be a Confederate soldier and had an avid interest in military history. I would get wrapped up in discussion with him that hours would go by and I wouldn't notice. Other than Alice, Jasper was my favourite of the younger Cullens.

Carlisle had taken on the roll as my personal physician. Charlie was always chatting with him and Esme. I overheard him one day, speaking with Esme, she was giving him recipes for easy meals and tips on how to handle a teenage girl. It melted my heart. Charlie it seemed, was worried about any side-effects I might experience from my genetics or the drugs they pumped into me. So Carlisle and I had, had several sessions. He'd ignored the drugs up until now, he said he wanted to try and get a base-line. Figure out who I was without the drugs and then see how they affected me. He was astonished to find I was basically on a par with his children in the speed department. They were slightly stronger than I was and they had better eyesight and hearing. They had rock-solid skin that didn't cut, it cracked. I had regular human skin, just with quicker healing. What was strange, he said, was that my blood didn't smell like blood. Carlisle had explained that although he and his family didn't feed on humans, humans still smelt like food to them. They experienced a constant internal struggle to remain in control of their 'thirst'. But they were fine around me. I just smelled like Bella, not like food. However Charlie had to be careful not to cut himself around the Cullens.

I felt happy. I didn't have to hide any more. I could be myself. I could laugh and joke and not worry about what I was saying. It was freedom. Since that kiss a couple of weeks ago, nothing else had happened. We just hadn't mentioned it. We'd just been getting along, as friends. We'd go on long walks, sit in tall trees and talk about everything. I was ready to talk about my past and she didn't ask so it worked out great. We just talked about movies, music, plays, books, art. She knew so much! It was like talking to a walking encyclopedia. She was funny too, and so beautiful. I could be myself around Alice. We'd spend hours just running through the forest. Chasing each other through the trees and tackling each other to the ground, then rolling over and over and over until we couldn't move for laughter. I felt so normal, so human.

We were just coming back from a run. I was staying at the Cullens tonight and for the rest of the weekend.. Charlie had to go into Seattle for a conference about investigative techniques or something and Esme has insisted that I spend the weekend at their house instead of being on my own at home. I didn't protest and Charlie was more than happy to leave me in their care. Alice and I were walking towards her house. The grass was damp with mist and the whole are was quiet. Carlisle was at the hospital. Edward was somewhere in Alaska and Emmett and Rosalie had gone off somewhere for 'alone' time. There was just Jasper and Rosalie inside.

"Come on Bella, I'll make you something to eat." Alice had really gotten into cook for me, it was kind of cute. I smiled in appreciation and followed her lead up the path towards her house. Then I stopped. Something wasn't right. I looked around. Nothing looked out of the ordinary but something definitely wasn't right. I strained my ears, trying to hear anything. There was nothing. That was the problem. All of the animals had been silenced. The usual faint hum of traffic from the roads a few miles away had disappeared. Something wasn't right.

I crouched slightly, preparing my body for anything that might happen. I scanned the tree line. There was nothing there. The mist was swirling around the tree trunks in waves. It wasn't breaking abruptly against any hidden obstacle. Giving up, I realised I was over-reacting. There was nothing there. Alice had noticed my paranoia.

"Bella? What's wrong?" She looked worried and started walking back to my side. I motioned with my hand that she shouldn't worry. I started walking back to her but then noticed something. High up in a tree to my left something glistened. I focused on it. What was that? Then it moved. My heart exploded in my chest. I grabbed Alice by the arm and dragged her towards the house. I had to get her safe. The door was just there. I heard a buzz of a radio behind me. I grabbed the kitchen door and threw Alice inside.

"Stay here, don't come out until I get you!"

"Bella, what the hell is happening?" She scrambled forward but I pushed her back and slammed the door in her face, making sure to lock it from the outside with the key before throwing the key as hard as I could...not that, that would make much difference but it made me feel better.

I ran towards the trees, making sure not to run in a straight line. They'd found me. The glint in the trees, I'd recognised it straight away. It was the sights on a sniper rifle. I'd guess a six man team. Two in sniper support roles with four for close quarters. I'd worry about the snipers in a moment. As I ran for the trees I saw the other appearing from their positions. Hidden behind trees, under bushes, covered in various forms of camouflage. All four of them were headed right at me. The first was a big guy with biceps as big as my head. He swung the butt of his assault rifle at my head. I rolled under his swing and ended up behind him before he'd finished the swing. I jumped to my feet and drove my knee into the small of his back. His arms flew up in pain and his knees buckled slightly, bringing him down to my height. I grabbed a hold of his assault rifle over his shoulders, pulling it violently against his throat, disabling his voice box. He dropped the gun and started clutching his damaged throat. I took this moment to crash my elbow into the side of his head and he crumpled to the ground unconscious. I'd spent too long on the first guy. Another member of his team was on me now. He had his arms wrapped around my chest. I slammed my head back as hard as I could and heard a satisfying crunch. I'd broken his nose. He released me, I spun on my left leg and brought my right leg swinging round. It crashed against his side and I heard another crack. I'd broken his ribs. He crumpled to the floor in a spluttering pile of blood.

"Bella!" I spun around and saw Alice running towards me, followed by Jasper and Esme. Two more soldiers were headed straight for them. I pushed myself forward. Sprinting towards them. I tackled the guy at the back, driving him deep into the ground. He didn't move. Knocked out straight away. I leapt up to see Alice and Jasper had reached the final guy. Alice had jumped straight over his head, as he turned around to find her, Jasper had smashed his fist into the back of his skull. The four ground troops were now down and incapacitated. None of them had taken a shot or even attempted to use their weapons. They must have orders to take me in alive. I heard the sound of metal scraping on metal. The snipers. One of them was loading. I saw the knife attached the belt of the soldier at my feet. Kneeling and spinning in a single move, I slid the knife out of it's sheath, raised to my ear, found the snipe, raising himself up on the branch he was resting on. I aimed for his chest and let the knife fly. I heard the sniper scream as the knife pierced his chest. He dropped his weapon and fell off his branch to the floor below. Was that it? Was that all of them? I didn't move. I stayed in that position, watching, waiting, listening. There was nothing, no movement or sound. It was over.

As I surveyed the surrounding, Esme and Jasper had gathered the soldiers in front of the house. One was dead, four unconscious. Jaspers eyes were dark. I saw him glancing at the blood. He looked towards Esme who nodded back at him then he sped off into the trees. Alice was by my side now. She was gripping my arm, saying my name over and over again. The adrenaline was pumping so hard through my veins that everything sounded muffled.

"Bella?" I stared blankly at Alice. I barely recognised her.

"Bella?" She started to shake me. Why was this beautiful girl shaking me?

"Bella?" Now she was screaming. The sharp sounds brought me back to reality.

"Alice! Are you OK?" I was gripping her arms now. My legs were shaking.

"Am I...Jesus Christ Bella! What the hell were you thinking?" She looked angry now. I was confused. What did I do wrong. I felt tears pricking at my eyes. I wasn't upset or angry, it was just a side effect from all of the adrenaline. Alice saw the tears and, she softened and grabbed me, pulling me to her in a fierce hug.

"Don't you ever do anything like that to me again!" She was squeezing me tightly now. I wrapped my arms around her and gently stroked her hair.

"I'm sorry Alice. I'm OK. Everything's OK." I just held her for a moment. Esme was busying herself with checking the soldiers wounds. After a short moment I released Alice and made my way over to Esme.

"How are they Esme?"

"They'll have pretty bad headaches when they wake up and this guy here won't be able to speak for a while but they'll be OK. This one didn't make it though I'm afraid." She pointed towards the man with a knife in his chest. I nodded solemnly. His wasn't the first life I'd taken but it never got easier.

I knelt down next to the soldier I'd knocked out with the tackle. I pulled his combat mask down and removed his tactical helmet. I recognised him. He was one of the security guards from the Institute. He was Eriks, I think. He had close-cropped blonde hair and a pale patch of stubble on his chin. His boots and combat trousers were dirty and scuffed. Much more than they would have been from just maintaining his hiding position. He must have been out of the Institute for a while, hunting me down. I slapped his cheek a few times to wake him up. He came to with a start.

"Hello Eriks." He glared at me. He instantly felt around his belt for his knife but it wasn't there.

"Sorry, I had to use that." He glanced around and saw his combat knife sticking out of the chest of one of his squad mates.

"Eriks, what are you doing here?" He looked around and kept his mouth shut. I grabbed hold of his chin and forced him to look at me,

"Bella..." Alice stepped forward but I waved her off.

"Answer me Eriks." He didn't answer me, instead he spat in my face. I wiped the spit away and stood up. I turned around and faced Alice.

"They're from the Institute. They found me Alice." Esme was standing behind Alice with a sad look in her eyes. I heard laughter behind me and turned round to see Eriks with an evil grin on his face. I angrily returned to my previous position, clamping my hand around his throat.

"What's so funny." He chocked slightly and I loosened my grip. I could barely make out his words so I shook him, letting him know to speak louder. He cleared his throat and tried again.

"We're not here for you!" I heard a click then. My heart stopped. I recognised that click. I looked down and in Eriks hands were two grenades with their pins pulled. He was smiling and laughing evilly.

"Run!" I turned and screamed at Esme and Alice. Rising to my feet I ran as fast as I could with Alice and Esme ahead of me. A second later the explosion knocked me off my feat. I was flying through the air towards the ground. I tucked my body into a ball to cushion my impact. It still knocked the air out of my lungs though. The explosion died down. I chunks of mud and soldier were raining down around me. My ears were ringing. The side of my face was burnt from the explosion and I had blood blood dripping from a cut just above my eye. I rolled onto my back. Gulping down huge mouthfuls of air. Alice and Esme were by my side in seconds. My ears were ringing so loudly I couldn't make out what they were saying. I waved them off and pulled myself into a sitting position.

"I'm OK, I'm Fine!" I was shouting. I couldn't moderate my vocal volume. Alice took hold of my hand and helped me to my feet. I was a little dazed and unsteady on my feet. Alice wrapped her arms around my waist to steady me.

"I need to call Carlisle." My hearing was coming back. Esme dashed back into the house. A lot of the windows had been destroyed but the general structure seemed fine...other than the ten foot crater just outside the back door and he blood splatter along the walls. I groaned at the damage that had been done.

"Alice I'm so sorry."

"Bella don't apologise. This wasn't y..." Alice's face went blank and she froze.

"Alice?" She snapped out of it and looked panicked. At that second I heard a faint crack in the distance behind Alice and felt a slight twinge in my stomach. I stumbled back. Something wasn't right.

"Alice?" I could hear the panic in my voice. Alice's eyes were wide. She was staring at my stomach.

"Esme!" Alice screamed her mothers name. There was so much fear in her voice. My legs were becoming weak. I could feel them giving way.

"Alice?" She rushed over to me and pressed her hand against my stomach as I fell to the ground. Why was she doing that? I dropped my gaze, looking to where her hand was. That's when I saw it. Seeing it invited all the pain.

I'd been shot. There was so much. It was pooling over Alice's fingers. As she applied pressure I screamed out in pain! It was unbelievable. I thought I was going to black out. I could actually feel the blood leaving my body. My fingers and toes were starting to tingle. My body was starting to spasm. My back was arching off the ground sending waves of pain crashing around my body.

"Alice what...oh my god!" Esme was there now, she placed her hands on top of Alice's. They were both applying pressure.

"Alice?" I was coughing now...why was I coughing? I was scared. Alice looked worried. I didn't want her to worry.

"Shush Bella, it's going to be OK, just try and stay still." Her voice was shaky. I was starting to feel sick. I felt the world disappear beneath me. Alice had lifted me in her arms. She was running towards her house. We were inside and upstairs before I could blink. She kicked open a door and laid me down on an ornate desk.

"Don't talk Bella. I'm here. Esme's called Carlisle, he'll be here soon. She called Charlie and he's on his way too." I spluttered at her words and tried to lift myself into a sitting position. Alice gently pushed me back down onto the desk.

"Don't move. I need to get your top off you now Bella." I nodded. She ripped my top off and threw it on the floor. She darted over to a large cabinet and withdrew bottles of, syringes and pads of gauze. Esme was in the room now. She had a cloth and water. She was mopping the blood off my stomach.

"How...how bad is it?" I was spluttering now. Every word I spoke sent pain shooting through my body.

"Shush sweetie, you're going to be OK." I could tell she was lying. I heard the front door downstairs crashing open. Carlisle was beside Esme now. He was rolling his sleeves up, examining my injury.

"Esme I need you to go to the garage and fetch the oxygen and anaesthetic." She nodded her head at his words but I grabbed her wrist before she disappeared downstairs.

"It doesn't...doesn't work..." It was true. All of the medical procedures I'd had in my life had been done without anaesthetic. I burned off the local anaesthetic quicker than they could administer it. General anaesthetic just did not work at all and morphine barely made a difference. This was going to hurt. Carlisle frowned.

"OK...Bella this is going to hurt I'm afraid. Bite down on this." Carlisle placed a chunk of leather in my mouth and I bit down furiously on it.

"Alice." Carlisle nodded at his smallest daughter. She moved to my side and held my arms down whilst Esme took hold of my legs. Carlisle placed a hand on my chest, effectively pinning me to the desk. He had a scalpel in his hands. This was not going to be pleasant.

I tensed my body. Carlisle poured some iodine over the wound and then slowly lowered the scalpel to my skin. I couldn't watch any longer. I turned my head to the side.

"Bella look at me, come on, don't watch that." Alice was pleading with me. I locked my eyes onto hers. Carlisle started to cut. I bit down harder on the leather trying my hardest not to scream. Tears were pouring down my face. My entire body was on fire and I'd stopped breathing. The room was spinning now. The only things I was aware of was the pain and Alice. She looked so lost!

Cut, after cut...and then something new. Something cold sliding inside. It burnt so much. My body was convulsing violently now Everything was turning black.

"She's lost too much blood." I could barely hear Carlisle. There was a deafening roar in my ears. The pain was subsiding. In fact I could barely feel anything right now.. My body was numb. I was so tired. My eyes started to close.

"No Bella! Look at me, come on, open your eyes!" I forced my eyes open, Alice's pace was close to mine. Esme wasn't holding my feet any more now. I didn't know where she was. Carlisle was rummaging through the same cabinet Alice had been looking in earlier. I could barely move. The leather dropped from lips and clattered to the floor. I only noticed then that it was actually a belt.

"Al...Alice..." My voice was barely a whisper. The tears were still pouring down my cheeks. Alice leant in closer. Her face was plastered with worry.

"Don't...don't speak Bella. Save your strength. Everything's going to be OK." She was stroking the strands of hair away from my sweat-drenched forehead. Smiled weakly at her. I shakily lifted my hand to her face. She was so beautiful. She covered my hand with her own, leaning into my palm.

"Come on Bella, hold on. You can fight this." I smiled weakly at her. I gently pulled her face closer. I brush my lips against hers. I could taste my tears as I pressed my lips against Alice's. It was a short kiss. Alice pulled away and looked me deep in my eyes.

"Come on Bella. Fight!"

I summoned all my strength to whisper a couple of more words.

"Thank you." Then I was spent. I couldn't hold my hand up any more. My arm dropped to the desk and the went black. As I fell deeper into the darkness, the last thing I remembered was Alice screaming my name.

She was slipping away! Her eyes had lost their sparkle, her hand had dropped from my face. If I could cry I would have.

"No! Bella? Bella? Carlisle hurry!" I started pounding on her chest, trying to keep her heart beating! Carlisle hurried over. He'd dug the bullet out and was now quickly stitching the wound back up. Esme re-entered the Carlisle's office and handed him an armful of blood packs. Carlisle quickly hooked them up and the blood started flowing into Bella's broken body. I never stopped pumping her chest.

Carlisle quickly sorted out a saline drip as well and hooked Bella up to a load of monitors. It had only taken a few seconds but that seemed like a lifetime. When she was hooked up to the machines, Carlisle lifted a large needle up. He checked it for air bubbles and then politely asked me to move. I was reluctant to stop and move away from Bella but I trusted Carlisle. I stopped and stepped back. Carlisle lifted the syringe above Bella's body. I had to look away but I could hear as he plunged the syringe deep into Bella's chest. Adrenaline, straight into her heart. I turned around as I heard the syringe clatter against the desk. Carlisle was placing an oxygen mask over Bella's face. At that moment she started to convulse violently. Her entire body arched upwards. Her back went stiff, her arms and legs locked and her heard and neck thrashed violently in all directions. We all jumped towards her and pinned her body to the desk. After about a minute she stopped. I listened...and there it was! Her heart was beating! She was alive. I collapsed into Carlisle's arms, thanking him furiously for what he'd just done.

Hours passed. I just sat there watching Bella's chest rise and fall. Charlie arrived about an hour after everything happened. He'd cried over Bella. Then he went outside to try and figure out what happened. I hadn't seen him since. Esme hadn't been able to get in contact with Jasper or Edward. Rosalie and Emmett had burst into the house about five minutes after Carlisle had stabbed Bella with the adrenaline. Carlisle was checking on Bella every fifteen minutes. When he wasn't checking her vitals he had his face pressed into one of his microscopes. He was examining Bella's blood and the drugs she used to take to see if they could help her.

I couldn't lose her. I'd spent so long waiting for her and now she was here, she was real. I wasn't going to let anyone take her away from me. I was going to figure out a way to keep her safe. She was healing quickly. Carlisle had already removed her stitches. There was an angry red line stretching about four inches along the left side of her stomach and stopping just above her navel. I kept glancing at it. I wanted to grab some hot water and wipe it away. Mostly I just wanted Bella to wake up.

"Interesting." Carlisle was muttering to himself. I looked up in his direction.

"Pardon Carlisle?" He looked up from the microscope. His eyes were narrowed. He was concerned.

"The drugs that the Institute pumped into Bella all those years..."

"What about them Carlisle?"

"It's modified venom." Right at that second Bella shot straight up, her eyes wide and screaming.


	7. Chapter 7

**A.N. Everything belongs to Stephenie Meyer.**

**I am so sorry for the delay. There's been a lot going on. Family death, a move, a graduation, a divorce...it's all been pretty hectic but hopefully I can get back up to speed. I hope you can all forgive me. To say sorry, here's a double update.**

**Read, review, enjoy!**

Chapter 7

I was fighting my way through darkness. It was all over me. I could feel it pressing against my eyes, wrapping around my arms and legs and snaking down into my lungs. I couldn't escape it. Darkness was everywhere. A universe of black. My heart wasn't pounding though. I was terrified. I was actually fearing for my life, but more than that, more than wanting to live, more than wanting to see sunlight, more than wanting to be free, I wanted Alice. I had to find her. I had to find a way out, to see her again. I tried to swim through the darkness. Run through it. Tear my way through it. I couldn't move. It was like those nightmares where you're running and running and running but you're not moving. I wanted to scream and cry, to rip down the walls around me but I couldn't. I was helpless.

Then there was something...it was faint...what was that? I strained against the black. What the hell was that? There was a noise...so quiet it almost didn't exist. I tried to ignore the black and focus on the sound. Where was it coming from? I closed my eyes to concentrate...at least I think I closed my eyes, it didn't make much of a difference, I still had the same, empty, black view. There it was. There was definitely a noise. I prayed to any god or powerful genie that would listen just to make the noise a little louder. It was a voice...so familiar, so sweet. It was her! It was Alice! Alice! She was there, she was here. Was she trapped in the black too? I thrashed against the nothing that was holding me. I felt something move...it was as if the darkness was slipping around me. I fought harder and faster. I was thrashing all over the place. I was screaming so loud I was sure my lungs would bleed.

"Come on Bella, come back. Fight!" She was getting clearer now. It sounded like she was everywhere. Where are you Alice?! I felt the darkness trying to grip hold of me tighter than ever. It was wrapping itself around my wrists, my ankles, my waist and throat. The darkness wanted to keep me but I wouldn't let it. I rolled my body into a ball. Contracting all of my muscles into a taught ball. I just needed to concentrate. Focus. I was getting out of here. I was going to fight. With a scream so torturous I felt my heart shatter. I thrust every inch of me in a thousand different directions. The darkness shattered. I could see the light. It was exploding all around me, washing over me. It flooded into my eyes, my mouth, between my fingers, over my face. It was everywhere.

I heard the scream. I was still screaming, my body was shaking with the force of it. I was out. I felt cold hands press against my cheeks. I realised I was crying. Hot tears were streaking down my cheeks, burning my skin and flowing towards my chin and lips. I stopped screaming and started panting. It felt like I hadn't taken a breath in years. I gulped the oxygen down, filling my lungs over and over again, feeling the oxygen seep into my blood and course it's way through my veins. What happened? Where was I? I was lying on something hard and flat, not at all comfortable. I could feel wires in my arms. I looked around and saw medical tubing and machines all around me. Oh no! The Institute! I started screaming again, short, sharp, screeches of terror. I had to escape. I tore at the wires and tubes. I ripped them out of my arms, leaving rivulets of blood running down my arms and chest. The hands that were on my cheeks were grabbing at my wrists now, trying to stop me.

"Bella! Bella honey stop!" That voice, it didn't sound like one of the Doctors from the Institute. I blinked back my tears, through my blurry vision I could make her out. Alice. Her eyes were filled with worry, her hair was pointing in every direction, her lips were pulled into a tight line and her jaw was clenched. I felt my fear and worry instantly fall away. It was like a thousand chains had fallen from my body. Everything stopped.

"Alice?" Her face instantly broke into a smile. She released my wrists and flung her arms around my neck, knocking me backwards. I fell back and Alice collapsed on top of me. I realised I was only in my bra and having Alice, or anyone, so close to me in that state made my cheeks blush a strong crimson.

"I'll go get Charlie." I hadn't even noticed Carlisle in the room. I just managed to catch a glimpse the back of his blonde hair ducking out of the door before Alice pulled me back into a sitting position and firmly took hold of my face in her hands.

"Don't you _ever_ do that to me again Bella!" She was staring fiercely at me now. I was gold-fishing. Opening and closing my mouth but unable to form any kind of coherent sentence.

"I mean what the hell were you thinking?! Running straight up to them like that?! Looking for a fight! What's wrong with you?! You were shot Bella! Shot!" She was half a decibel away from shattering glass right now and her words infuriated me.

"I was protecting _you_ Alice! I was keeping _you _safe. And yes, I was shot and you're yelling at me! Some bedside manner!" She blinked furiously, as if realising the situation for the first time. She snaked her arms around my neck again and pulled me close to her, resting her face against my hair, holding me tightly.

"I'm sorry, I was just so scared." I wrapped my arms around her waist and reassuringly rubbed circles in the small of her back.

"It's OK Alice, I'm fine, honestly, just a little sore." I tried to pull away but she wouldn't allow it. She tightened her grip slightly, begging me to stay, I obliged. I heard footsteps on the stairs and gently pushed Alice away from me. I was peering over her shoulder when Charlie burst through the door. His face was creased with worry. His eyes were red and framed by deeps bags. He looked like crap!

"Bella!" He ran his hand through his hair, it looked a little greyer than it had yesterday...was it yesterday, or had I been unconscious for longer? He rushed over to me. Alice stepped aside and Charlie pulled me into a strong embrace. I felt something damp against my cheek and realised that Charlie had been crying. He was squeezing me as if there was no tomorrow. I squeezed him back but had to pull away when I felt a painful twinge in my stomach.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Charlie was examining me now, his eyes were flitting from my face to my arms, to my body...my very naked body. My cheeks flushed and I pulled the sheet that was covering my legs up and wrapped it around my body.

"I'm OK Charlie, just a little tender. Nothing a hot shower won't fix." I tried to smile as convincingly as I could. I could tell Charlie didn't believe me but he didn't say anything.

"What happened Bella?" Charlie had his soldier-face on now. No emotions, just waiting for information and orders. I explained everything, the glint of the snipers scope, the fight with the ground troops, the sniper shot. When I got to the part where Eriks said he wasn't there for me, Charlie stopped me.

"What do you mean? If he wasn't here for you, what was he here for?"

"I don't know, he decided to go super-nova before I could I ask. Maybe he wants the file or the drugs you stole." I shrugged my reply and noticed the awkward look in Alice's face. What was that all about? Charlie didn't seem convinced by my theory but he didn't have a better one to share.

"Maybe. I'll ask Carlisle to look you over. Then I need to make sure our tracks are covered." Charlie was still talking as he left the room. It was just me and Alice now.

"So..." Alice was rocking back on the balls of her feet. I was still perched on the desk naked from the waist-up

"So..." I didn't know what to say. Would she bring up the fact that I'd kissed her? OK she'd kissed me first a few weeks ago but, if I'm honest, I was starting to doubt the credibility of my memory where that first kiss was concerned.

"Oh, I forgot!" Alice jumped back and walked behind the desk. She headed towards a low sofa and I noticed a pile of clothes on there. Some three quarter jean-shorts and a white vest top. She carried them over to me and held them out patiently. I gratefully took the clothes from Alice and she turned her back on me, allowing me to get dressed. I did so quickly. Flinching as I raised the vest-top over my head and slid it down my still bruised body.

"You can turn around now Alice, thank you." She turned around slowly, looking at me out of the corner of her eyes at first and then turning fully when she saw I was decent. I smiled at her in gratitude.

"You're starting to look better. I was worried about you." Her voice was low and sweet and brought a blush to my cheeks.

"I'm fine Alice, really, stop worrying. Just another scar for the collection." I tried to make light of the situation but Alice didn't seem impressed.

"You shouldn't be collecting scars Bella! You're a beautiful young girl! You should be living life, doing homework, going shopping, watching movies...you should not be getting shot!" I stepped towards her and took her hands in mine, trying to soothe her anger.

"Alice, there are many things in this world that shouldn't be. There are many wrongs that will never be righted and many evils that should never happen. That's life...it's a bitch!" She giggled beautifully at my small joke and a smile spread across her face, the kind of smile that puts glorious sunshine to shame. My heart began to pound in my chest. I knew she could hear my increasing heart rate but she didn't mention it. I smiled back at her and released her petite hands.

"Bella...?" Alice had a quizzical look on her face, I was intrigued.

"Yes Alice?"

"You know earlier...after you'd been...shot...?" I ducked my head, signalling her to continue.

"Well after, when we'd brought you in here, you did something...do you remember?" The switch was flicked and I knew instantly what she was referring to. The blood-loss-near-death kiss.

"I remember." She looked relieved.

"Well I just wanted you to know that I understand. Shock like you experienced can make one do crazy things. So we'll just...put it behind us, OK...it was just the shock." She was rocking back on forth on the heels of her feet. I was starting to shake with anger now.

"Oh for Gods sake Alice!" I'd raised my voice and Alice looked shocked.

"Bella...?"

"It wasn't fucking shock! I knew what I was doing! I will not allow you to 'disappear' that kiss the way you did the last one."

"Excuse me?" She looked thoroughly perplexed now

"You don't get it do you?!" I'd begun pacing in front of her now

"Bella, what...?" I closed the distance between us until our noses were almost touching.

"Alice," My voice was a whisper, I could swear my heartbeat was louder than my words.

"I didn't kiss you because I was in shock." I couldn't keep my eyes off her lips as they started to move and form a sentence.

"Why...why did you then?" I slowly lifted my hand to her face, letting my finger tips brush gently against her perfect skin. I traced her jawline and gently cupped her cheek. My eyes locked onto hers and I noticed they were slightly darker than they had been a moment ago. I was leaning in towards her. Our lips were so close to touching that I could almost taste her.

"I didn't want to die without kissing you again." Our lips brushed as I spoke and electricity shot through my veins.

"Bella..." I closed the distance and pressed my lips firmly against hers. Her body instantly moulded itself against mine. I felt her arms snake around my neck and her fingers wrap themselves in my hair. I placed my free hand on Alice's and pressed our bodies together. Alice's lips moved softly against mine and then more passionately. She ran her tongue over my bottom lip and I involuntarily moaned against her lips and Alice seemed to enjoy this. She pressed her lips harder against mine and I felt her tongue slid seductively over my own. Alice began to push me back towards Carlisle's desk. Until I'd fallen back into his chair. In less than a second Alice was straddling me, her legs on either side of me, her fingers entangled in my hair and her lips moving harder and faster against my own. My heart was pounding in my ears. My hands were holding Alice's hips firmly. Her top had ridden up slightly and my thumbs were touching the bare skin of her stomach. It was a small slip of flesh but it drove me crazy. I began to trace patterns into her exposed flesh and I felt Alice shudder against my touch. After a few minutes more I had to stop for breath. Alice allowed me to breathe, she moved her lips from mine, along my jaw and down my throat. I had never felt anything like it. Her lips against my throat made my mind explode. I could swear I was seeing stars. By now I was panting heavily, tilting my head back so Alice could have better access to my neck. My world was spinning and I was drowning in pleasure. Over my thundering heart beat I heard a creak just outside the room. It was enough to drag me back to reality. I quickly jumped away from Alice and straightened myself out, leaving Alice looking somewhat confused before she too made herself slightly more presentable. We were shortly joined by Carlisle. His face was set in a look of concentration.

"Bella, I'm glad to see you're recovering well." I nodded and patted my stomach to prove I was OK.

"I had a great doctor." I smiled warmly at him and he smiled back.

"I'm afraid there are things we need to discuss Bella. Charlie is waiting downstairs in the Kitchen." Carlisle stretched out his arm and motioned for me to take the lead. I made my way downstairs, closely followed by Carlisle and Alice and meandered towards the Kitchen. Charlie was nursing a cup of coffee and Esme was wiping the counters down with a damp cloth. Carlisle gently pushed the door to. The room smelt slightly burnt...probably from the grenade. There broke glass had been cleared up and other than the smell you couldn't tell that anything untoward had happened here...at least not from the inside.

"What's this about Carlisle?"I walked over to Charlie and he smiled, taking my hand in his and giving it a gentle squeeze. I could see the damp on his moustache left by his coffee and I reached up to wipe it away.

"I've been examining the drug samples you procured from the Institute." My interest was piqued. I lifted myself onto the counter and crossed my ankles behind one-another, letting my hands rest in my lap. Alice was stood just behind Carlisle and I had to force myself not to look at her...if I did, well, I might not be entirely lady-like.

"Well, it appears that the drugs given to Bella and the others at the Institute is a form of Vampire Venom..." Carlisle left his words in the air, allowing us to absorb their full meaning. It took a while for what he said to make sense to me. Charlie and I just remained silent, our faces were the mirrors of each other. Blank stares, mouths slightly open. Carlisle shuffled his feet slightly and Esme flitted over to Charlie's side, placing a hand just below his elbow.

"Am I a Vampire?" My mouth was moving but I didn't mean for the words to escape my lips.

"No Bella. You're human, you have a pulse, circulation, you breathe, you can die." Well that was a very morbid way to look at it but for some reason it put me at ease. Right at that moment the kitchen door opened and Rosalie and Emmett appeared. Emmett beamed at me and Rosalie dashed over to my side, placing her hands on my face so firmly that she squashed my cheeks and puckered my lips into a comical 'O'.

"Bella! How are you? Are you healing? Do you need anything? Emmett stop standing around and get a blanket!"

"_Rothalie I'm fine"_ It was really hard to talk whilst she had my face squished in her hands. She looked my deep in the eyes trying to glean any hint of a lie before tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear. Emmett had moved to her side and had placed a hand on her hip.

"Rose?" She nodded her head and looked back towards him in a silent apology. Though they acted like a sex-crazed, stereotypical Jock-Cheerleader couple they had a profound connection. You could tell that they were perfect for each other.

"I'm glad you're OK Bella. But I am a little sad that, that ass-hole blew himself up. I'd love to be ripping his bones from his body right now." Her voice was sweet but her words were vicious. I wasn't sure if it was a joke. I just glanced around at the other Cullens, trying to get a read on the situation but they were giving nothing away.

"Yeah...me too..." I went for the safe option, an ambiguous reply that could either be agreement or sarcasm. Emmett sniggered loudly.

"Rose would do it you know Bella, nobody messes with her family." With that she flipped her golden hair over her shoulder and led Emmett out of the kitchen.

"In many was Rose is the big-brother that all teenage girls hate." Esme was smiling after her daughter and son whilst removing the empty coffee mug from beside Charlie.

"Anyway...so I'm not a vampire...but they pumped venom into me. I thought venom changes people into vampires?"

"It appears this batch of venom has been altered on the molecular level to render it inert to some extent."

"I'm sorry, what?" Charlie wasn't good with sciencey-stuff.

"Think it like a immunisation jab. You get the symptoms of the disease you're being immunised against but not the disease itself. That's, in a way, what's happened here. Bella has the symptoms of vampirism...the strength, speed, agility, heightened sense and healing abilities, but she's still alive and human. The best of both worlds." Carlisle was looking at me appreciatively. It made me a little uncomfortable and I dropped down from the counter.

"I wouldn't put it like that Carlisle."

"No, of course not Bella. I just mean that from a vampire-perspective, many of our kind delight in the prospect of having all of the benefits and none of the negatives of vampirism. Evidently the government thinks along the same lines."

"Speaking of the government," Charlie cleared his throat, he looked concerned, "how do they know about this? I thought vampires were a global-secret? You said there were rules about exposure." Alice, Esme and Carlisle both looked perplexed.

"That is a very good question." Charlie scratched his chin in thought, and Alice glanced in my direction. Our eyes met and my heart stopped for half a second.

"Isn't it obvious?" We all turned to the new voice. Edward was standing in the door way that Rosalie and Emmett had exited out of. He was leaning casually against the frame, surveying the scene before him.

"What's obvious Edward?" This was the first time I'd spoken directly to him in...I couldn't even remember how long.

"Who in our world could possibly have the influence to gear a government and military towards genetic manipulation of the vampire-strain? Who has the power to flounce the exposure law without fear of reprisal? Who could gain the most from this sort of genetic experimentation?"

"Crap." Alice whispered the curse and if it was possible she looked paler than she had done a moment ago.

"What? What is it?" I was getting a little excited now. Part of me like mysteries.

"The Volturi." Carlisle spoke to Edward who nodded in response.

"It does make sense in a way." Esme was now standing by Carlisle's side. Alice had moved close to me, her hand brushed against mine and wrapped her little finger around my own. I glanced down at it before looking into her eyes. She smiled weakly at me but I couldn't bring myself to return it. Whoever the Volturi were, they were clearly a worry for the Cullens.

"Excuse me, but who are the Volturi?" Charlie was getting impatient now. I felt bad for him, it had been a stressful past couple of days.

"The Volturi are the closest thing we have to a government. Actually they're closer to a royal family than a government." As he said royal family, Carlisle's accent changed slightly, he almost sounded English.

"Ha! Do they have their faces on postage stamps?" I always resorted to humour when the situation was too tense to be comfortable. Nobody was laughing, Alice looked slightly annoyed.

"No, they're not." Alice's words were short and crisp, "they're an army. Narrow minded, determined, power-hungry and ruthless. They destroy anyone and anything that threatens their way of life. They protect secrecy and they relentlessly endeavour to increase their hold over our world." Both Esme and Carlisle were nodding their agreement now, Edward merely scowled a little harder.

"Well if they're so powerful what are they doing experimenting on babies?" Charlie did not look or sound impressed at all!

"Maybe they wanted new 'recruits' who wouldn't be hindered by our certain...limitations." Edward was smirking to himself. A little part of me was very uncomfortable in his presence. He always seemed to be studying me and angry with what he was seeing.

"Edward, we don't know that it is them. There's no proof." Carlisle scolded his son gently.

"Come on Carlisle, who else could it be?" Alice took hold of my hand and motioned with her head that I should follow her. We ducked out of the kitchen were Edward and Carlisle were starting to get into a debate. Esme and Charlie just stood there looking uncomfortable. I followed Alice up the stairs, we walked past Rosalie and Emmett who smiled at us sheepishly as they came out of a room to my left. I glanced past the closing door and noticed a shredded pair of jeans that I was sure Emmett had been wearing earlier. I looked at the couple, the realisation hitting me. My blood rushed to my face and I urged Alice onwards. Emmett burst into raucous laughter with Alice and Rosalie scowling at them. Alice tugged my arm gently and I followed her. We finally reached Alice's room and my mind went back to the first time I'd been here. How scared I'd been, how confused...it felt like a thousand life times ago. Alice showed me into her room and I perched myself on the edge of her bed. I felt drained and if I breathed too deeply I still had a shooting pain rushing from my abdomen to my chest. Alice closed against the door and leant against it, appraising me.

"Can I get you anything Bella?" The poor vampire looked worried.

"I'm OK Alice, thank you." I smiled appreciatively at her and let myself flop back onto her bed. The mattress was firm enough for me to bounce around slightly. I pressed my fingers against my stomach and tried to massage the pain away. After a few seconds I felt Alice's cold fingers above my own. She carefully pushed my hand away and pressed her palm against my skin. The coolness of her skin was refreshing. I sighed contentedly whilst she slowly rubbed the pain away. I could stay like this forever. After a moment Alice lay beside me. I curled up into her body and she wrapped her arms around me. My head rested on her chest, there was complete silence. No heartbeat, no breathing, nothing. I was fighting so hard to stay awake. I had to do something, get moving, re-energise myself. I squirmed in Alice's arms so I was looking up at her. Her eyes were a dim-gold, darker than they usually are. She smiled sweetly at me.

"Hi there." For some reason I blushed which caused giggles to cascade from Alice's perfectly formed lips...and I blushed even deeper. Change the subject.

"Alice, what do you know about the Volturi?" Good change Bella, well played. Alice's brow knitted and she pushed us both into a sitting position.

"I know about as much as anyone else in my family does. Why?" I shrugged nonchalantly.

"I was just wondering. Carlisle and Edward seemed to...I don't know, they just seemed weird about the subject."

"Carlisle and Edward have differing opinions on the Volturi. Carlisle's seen the good they can do, Edward sees the greed and power-hunger."

"Well who's right?" Alice cocked her head to the side slightly, and chewed on her lip, contemplating her answer.

"Well...both of them really. The Volturi are the closest thing to a police-force that our world has. If a vampire gets breaks one of our laws, then the Volturi step in. However, they've consolidated their power by ensuring they have the strongest, most gifted vampires in their ranks. If anyone displays any type of a useful talent then, in the words of Don Corleone, the Volturi '_make them an offer they can't refuse'."_ Alice put on a rather impressive Marlon Brando accent and I was in stitches. I had to grab hold of my stomach and hiss in pain as I laughed too hard.

"Bella be careful!" Alice pulled me back into a sitting position and ran her eyes over me, examining me from head to toe.

"I'm fine Alice...for the millionth time." She rolled her eyes at me and stood. I tried to follow suit but she pushed me back down onto the bed.

"You wait here." She flashed out of the room and was back before I could even ask her where she was going. She'd returned a large leather book, well a volume really. It was as about as thick as a mattress and the leather was worn and cracked. The book looked old!

"This is Carlisle's. He stayed with the Volturi a couple of centuries ago and made this to chronicle his time there." Alice gently placed the book on the bed next to me. I scooted over to make room for her to join me. When we were both seated cross-legged on the bed she pulled the book towards us and opened it to the front page. There was an exquisite charcoal drawing of a castle surrounded by a sprawling town. The detail was incredible. You could see the cracks in the castles stonework, the individual droplets of water from a fountain in the foreground, the branches of trees in the background...it was stunningly beautiful.

"That's Volterra, a city in Italy where the Volturi are based." Alice turned the page and we came to a drawing of a fragile looking man, he had incredibly long, hair and delicate features. He looked almost child-like but his eyes were cold.

"That's Caius, one of the leaders." She turned the page again and another man inhabited the page. This man was some-what broader than the first but a little shorter. His hair was shorter and wavy, he looked bored and tired and his chin was jutting out as in with an air of arrogance.

"That's Marcus, the quietest of the three."

"Three?" Alice nodded and turned the page again. My heart stopped. His crooked smile, his knowing eyes, his flowing hair. I started to shake. I grabbed a fistful of Alice's bed and felt the mattress springs shatter under my fingers.

"This is Aro, the most prominent of the three." Alice hadn't noticed my discomfort. She hadn't looked away from the book. When she did she almost threw the book to the floor. I could feel that the blood had drained from my face.

"Bella, what is it?" Alice had taken hold of my hand, my fingers were still shaking.

"I know him!" I nodded towards the book. Alice looked back at it and then back into my eyes.

"How? How do you know him Bella?"

"He was at the Institute. He was one of the Doctors."


	8. Chapter 8

**A.N. Everything belongs to Stephenie Meyer.  
Sorry for the delays. Short chapter here, just to get things moving.  
Read and review pretty please.**

**Enjoy!**

Chapter 8

Alice was just sitting there. Not moving, not speaking, not breathing. She was staring at the portrait of Aro. Her jaw was clenched tightly and her eyes were narrowed in rage.

"Alice?" I placed my hand on her shoulder and gently nudged her. Alice jumped up from the bed, knocking the book flying against a wall. I shuddered as it clattered to the ground.

"Of course he was one of the doctors! That manipulative, psychotic dick!" She was pacing back and forth. I couldn't hold back the giggles that spilled past my lips. Alice swore. She actually just swore and it was hilarious! She's so small and sweet and well spoken...I couldn't believe she just swore.

"You of all people should not find this funny Bella!" She was glaring at me now and that just pushed me over the edge. I rolled back onto the bed, laughter pouring from my lungs.

"What exactly is so funny?" She had her arms crossed over her stomach now and was tapping her foot angrily.

"You...you..." It was difficult to speak past the laughter, "You just swore!" She shrugged her shoulders and looked at me as if I were insane.

"So what?! I believe the situation warrants strong language!" She wasn't budging. I sobered up, wiped the laughter-tears from the corner of my eyes and dragged myself to my feet.

"Alice, I'm sorry." My voice was a little crackly from the laughter. I coughed to clear my throat and walked over towards where she was stood. I placed my hands against her ice-cold shoulders and ducked my head slightly so I was looking into her eyes.

"I know this is serious, it was just weird hearing you talk like that. You're so sweet, I just never expected to hear you talk that way." She still wasn't smiling. She just nodded her head in acceptance and shrugged away from me.

"Fine. We need to tell Carlisle."

After about half an hour of explaining, confirming, theorising, listening, discussing and lots of other words ending with '-ing' we were no better off than twenty-four hours previously, except now I knew the name of the one who had done this to me. Aro. One of the supposed leaders of the vampire world. Every government has its secrets I guess, I was just one of many after-all.

"I'm not entirely sure what we should do with this information." Carlisle's brow had creased in concentration. Rosalie and Alice shared the same look of disgusted fury and Emmett kept glancing nervously in Rosalie's direction. Esme was sat beside Edward, they were both staring intently at Carlisle, awaiting his decision. Jasper still hadn't returned. I was starting to worry about him

"Confrontation is out of the question." Carlisle's words garnered nods of agreement from his family.

"Why the hell not?! We know who's behind this now why can't we take he fight to them for once?!" Charlie had pounded his fist against the dining table we were all sat around. I was the only one to jump slightly at the loud noise.

"We can't simply storm into Volterra and confront Aro with this information," Carlisle said. "We need to be more diplomatic than that. The Volturi are far too powerful. There has to be another way."

"Maybe there is." We all spun around at the same time. Jasper was standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame with his arms folded across his chest. I was out of me seat and had my arms wrapped around him in under a second.

"Jasper! I was so worried about you, are you OK?" He gently pushed me away from him.

"I'm OK Bella, sorry for leaving the way I did, I just needed some time." I nodded my acknowledgement and returned to my place at the table.

"What have you come up with Jasper?" Edward questioned him. Everybody seemed relieved to have him back.

"Well, it's insanity to confront the Volturi, but what if we just paid them a visit, stayed a while, see if we could learn something?" It took a moment for his words to sink in. Esme and Rosalie looked uncomfortable whilst Alice and Edward seemed pretty eager to implement Jasper's idea.

"Alice and I can go. I can read their minds and Alice can see if they're onto us. It's not as if the Volturi would just leave a file marked 'Our Evil Scheme' lying around in the library." I was surprised at Edwards willingness to help. He'd always been so stand-offish.

"No Edward, Bella and I couldn't let you and Alice put yourself at risk like that." Charlie always seemed to say what I was thinking.

"No Charlie, we need to do this. They came to our home and attacked our family. They tortured Bella for years and turned the two of you into fugitives. It's not a matter of risk, it's a matter of necessity." Alice had stood and left the room after her statement. Her mind was clearly made up.

"Right, well, I'll call Aro and inform him of his up-coming guests." Carlisle followed suit. My head was spinning. I had to stop this. What if they got hurt?! What if I lost Alice?! I tried my hardest to think of a brilliant argument to sway them from their chosen course of action.

"What about school?" That was all I could come up with. Millions of dollars spent on perfecting and designing me to be the epitome of human-development. I wonder if they could get a refund?

All of the Cullens, minus Alice who was no longer with us, chuckled. They all looked at each other and in unison they all said...

"Meningitis." So, that was the cover story. Edward and Alice had developed meningitis and had been taken to a specialist in Seattle. I would go to school with the rest of the Cullen kids and we'd wait and see what happened. Needless to say I did not like this plan at all.

It was here, it was time. Alice and Edward were leaving today. They'd booked their tickets and we'd all gone to the airport to say our farewells. Edward hugged his family members and shook Charlie's hand. I was surprised when he placed a soft kiss on my cheek. He turned and headed towards the departure gate. Alice had said goodbye to all of her family. She'd kissed Charlie's cheek and headed over towards me. Every cell in my body was screaming at me to stop her, pick her up, run away with her and not let her do this. I had to keep her safe. If the Volturi were as bad as the Cullens made them sound how could they allow Alice and Edward to go to them. When she reached me Alice turned to everybody else.

"Guys, could I have a moment alone with Bella please?" Who could resist her sweet voice? They all agreed and headed towards the nearest restaurant. When we were alone Alice took hold of my hand and ran her thumb softly across the back of it. I had to swallow my tears. I was not going to cry.

"Alice, you can't do this. I won't let you." She smiled weakly at me. I got the impression that she'd be crying if she could.

"It's not up to you Bella. I want you to be safe and this is the only way." I searched for a response but came up empty. She flung her arms around my neck and pulled me close. I clung to her as tightly as I could, gripping onto her top, not wanting to let her go. I felt the prick of tears in the corner of my eyes.

"I'll be back soon Bella, I swear to you I'll be OK." I nodded into her shoulder, I couldn't speak. I kissed her cheek softly and inhaled her scent, wondering when I'd next be able to do so. I pulled away after a moment.

"Alice..." I was silenced when her lips met mine. The world disappeared. Our lips moved together and I did my best to put as much emotion into the kiss as I could. All too soon we pulled apart. My cheeks felt damp and I realised I'd failed to hold back my tears. Alice wiped them away from my cheeks. I took her face in, her golden eyes, her rose-coloured lips, they way her hair always looked messy and yet never out-of-place, the curl of her lip when she was fighting a universe of emotion. She was perfection. She smiled again and I did my best to return it. I could tell the smile came out as more of a grimace than a grin though. She leaned in for one last hug. It was brief, just long enough for her brush her lips against my cheek.

"I have to go now Bella," she said as she pulled away. I grabbed at her hands, not wanting to let her go.

"No. Please Alice." I couldn't stop them now, my tears were flowing freely, my voice caught in my throat. I was about thirty seconds away from a total breakdown. She leant back in and brushed her lips against mine. She broke away and rested her forehead against mine. I was gulping in air, trying to remain calm.

"Shh baby, it's OK." Alice was stroking my cheeks softly, trying to calm me down. In the distance I heard the final call for her flight. I started to whimper.

"Please Alice!" I couldn't speak, my words came out as whisper.

"Bella, I have to." Even her voice was catching now. She pressed her hands against my chest and pushed me away. I let her. I didn't have the strength to fight. I wiped my eyes on the back of my hand.

"Just...be careful OK Alice." She smiled warmly at me.

"I promise." She squeezed my hand tightly and pulled me in for one last hug.

"I love you Bella." And then she was gone. She'd released me and headed for the gate before I could respond. My tears were flowing again now. My chest felt as though I'd been shot and I fought with every ounce of strength I had to not run over to her. I watched as she handed her ticket over to the stewardess. They checked it and nodded Alice through the tunnel. I kept watching as she headed through the tunnel. She was leaving. When she turned the corner and left my field of vision I let my gaze drop to my feet. My tears were dripping from my chin and nose onto the floor. I wiped them away again, steeling myself I looked back at the tunnel. She was gone now.

"I love you too Alice."

It had been a week since they'd left. A whole week without Alice. I'd call the Cullens every day, driven over there a few times to try and find out anything that I could. They hadn't heard anything either. Not a single word from Alice or Edward. I was beyond worried. I was checking my emails at least fifty times a day. My phone was glued to my hand. I couldn't concentrate in school. I was grateful that spring break was coming up. I could do with a break. Just five days left and then I could do...well I don't know what I could do.

In the back of my mind I heard the school bell ring. End of the day. I grabbed my things and headed out of class. I went straight for my truck. I climbed in and gunned it out of the exit, not speaking to or acknowledging anybody as I passed. I just wanted to get home. The drive was a blur. Trees, cars, houses. Trees, cars, houses. And then I was home. I dumped all of my things on the sofa as I passed it and headed up stairs to my room. My mind was numb with worry. I was basically on auto-pilot at this point. I turned my computer on and waited for it to boot. After a few 'whirs' and 'buzzes' it had loaded up. I entered in my password and walked back downstairs looking for something to eat. I raided the fridge and found some strawberries. I dumped a handful of them into a bowl and headed back to my room, nibbling on the fruit as I walked. My room was dark, the only light coming from my computer. It had started raining again. You'd never have guessed we were so close to summer from the weather we kept having. The grey sky made the world prematurely dark. It reminded me of winter. I shivered slightly. Shrugging it off I went over to my desk. I had a paper on William Shakespeare's _Twelfth Night_ to finish by the end of the week. I clicked on the icon for my school folder and opened my essay. Delaying the inevitable killing of my braincells with school work, I checked my emails. It seemed to take an eternity for the browser to load and for me to be able to log on.

"Come on!" I was tapping my feet impatiently. I just wanted to check and get it over with. When the page loaded I was a little surprised to see the icon for an unread message. Sucking in a deep breath I clicked on the icon, it took me straight to my in-box. Alice! It was from Alice! She was alive! I checked the time I had received it...twenty minutes ago! Only twenty minutes ago, maybe she was still online. I clicked my instant messenger open but there was no such luck, she wasn't there. I returned to my email. Hesitantly I clicked it open. Again it seemed to take an eternity for the page to load and when it did, my heart stopped. There wasn't the massive essay I'd been expecting. The glorious tale of how she'd managed to slay my demons and how she was on her way home to me. No, there was none of that. There was only two words. '_Stay Away.'_

Stay Away. That was it. Stay Away...what the hell could that mean. I frowned. I chewed my bottom lip. I scrolled my page down, I refreshed it, I searched for an attachment...there was nothing. Just Stay Away.

"Fuck this!" I'd had enough. What the hell was this all about? I clicked a few buttons and the email was printed off in a couple of moments. I grabbed it and folded it messily into the pocket of my jeans. I was downstairs before my computer had even turned off. I scribbled a note for Charlie and I darted out of the door. I wanted answer. I was headed to the Cullens.

I didn't bother knocking on the door when I got to the Cullens. They already knew I was here. I stomped through their front room. Nobody there. I made my way to the kitchen, nobody there either. Where the hell were they?!

"Carlisle?!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. Spinning around in place in the kitchen. Carlisle appeared in less than a moment.

"Bella, how can I help you?" He seemed...breathless for lack of a better word. Frowning I dug in my pocket for the email and thrust it into his hands.

"I heard from Alice." Carlisle's eyes widened at my words. He carefully unfolded the scrunched up piece of paper and his face mirrored my own when I'd first read the email.

"What does this mean?" He asked whilst flapping the email slightly in my direction.

"I have no idea, that's why I'm here, to see if you know." Carlisle studied the email again and opened his mouth to speak. Just then he was cut off rather abruptly by the phone ringing. The shrill ring-tone cut through the tension better than any knife ever could. I jumped a little and Carlisle darted over to the handset by the the fridge.

"Cullen residence, Dr. Carlisle Cullen speaking..." e went quiet for a moment, I could only assume to allow the person on the other to speak.

"I see. Yes of course." He went quiet again. This time he began nodding his head along with whatever the other person on the end of the line was saying.

"How do you..." He was cut short. I was beginning to get interested. With each passing moment Carlisle seemed to get paler, if that were even possible.

"No, of course not. I...yes...certainly...see you then." He hung up the phone; staring at it for a moment or two. I had to wave my hand in front of his face to break the spell.

"Carlisle? Who was that?" He blinked and looked back at me as if forgetting that I was in the room. I did not like this Carlisle. He seemed so out of it, so...not in control. He almost looked fearful. He seemed to gulp a little before he answered me.

"That was...well...I'm sorry Bella, I need to gather my family." With that he left the room, returning a moment later with the rest of Cullens. Esme immediately swept over to me and planted a soft kiss on my cheek. Jasper and Emmett nodded their hello's and Rosalie came to stand by my side, she squeezed my hand and my mind immediately went back to a week ago, when Alice had done the same thing. A twinge of pain shot through me and Rosalie noticed. She smiled apologetically and and released my hand, letting it fall numbly to my side again.

"Carlisle, what the hell is going on?!" I felt bad being so blunt with him, Carlisle had been nothing but nice to me, but I needed answers!

"I just received a call from Gianna..."

"Who?" Both Rosalie and I questioned Carlisle at the same time.

"She's the current Volturi receptionist, a human." I snorted at this. Carlisle ignored me and carried on.

"It appears that we have been summoned." Esme placed her fingers to her lips, whether in shock, fear or some other emotion I couldn't tell. Emmett snarled slightly and Jasper clenched his fists at his side.

"So you guys are going to Volterra?" I looked around at the Cullens. I'd come to love them all. I'd lost Alice and now they were all leaving too?!

"Bella, we were all summoned." Carlisle spoke the words as if they had some specific meaning.

"I...I don't understand Carlisle." He sighed and shuffled his feet slightly.

"My family and I have to go to Volterra." I nodded my understanding. "You were asked for specifically." Rosalie gripped my hand again. I still didn't quite understand.

"Carlisle, what do you mean?" He glanced towards Esme who looked near tears.

"Bella, Gianna informed me that our presence was required," I nodded and he continued "she also said...she said that we should make sure that Number Six was with us when we landed." The room went silent. I felt their eyes on me, as if they were waiting for me to break down. So they knew where I was. I'd been summoned. I felt the air leave my lungs. My ears began to ring and I developed tunnel vision. Everything started to go black. I felt Rosalie grip my hand tighter. That little bit of pressure caught my attention, I focused on. No way was I going to let those fucking monsters turn me into a snivelling child again. I was not weak. I was no longer their experiment. I took a deep breath, then another and another. I glanced at Carlisle. The time for fear was over.

"When do we leave?"


	9. Chapter 9

**OK there's been some comments about Alice and Edward being stupid going to Volterra Yes it was a dumb move but all will be explained. **

**Oh, and this is a different POV chapter. Somebody said the "constant change in POV was confusing" well I'm warning you beforehand. And by the way...what constant POV change? There has been one instance of a change of POV and it lasted approximately 500 words.**

**For the people who have kept an open mind, thank you so much, I love you all dearly and your faith will be rewarded.**

**Spoiler alert, Bella will act weirdly in this chapter...it will make sense in the next chapter.**

**As always, everything belongs to Stephenie Meyer.**

**Read, review, enjoy!**

Chapter Nine.  
Alice's POV

Even though I'd jumped in feet first with Jaspers plan, secretly I thought it was suicide. Even if we could keep Aro from touching us, I supposed we'd have a maybe forty-eight hours at most to find what information we could before the risk became too great. She was worth it though. I'd walk through the fires of hell to keep her safe. Bella, she was the one good thing about all of this. I'd tried to see as much of this plan as I could. If we left immediately we'd be caught out straight away. We'd arrive and Aro would insist on hugging us as greeting and then horror would ensue. If we waited too long then the future was murky and I couldn't get a fix on anything. But three days. If we arrived in Volterra in three days time then Aro would be busy, distracted by something, he wouldn't be around for a while. It was the best chance we had. We had to take it. I conveyed what I'd seen to Carlisle and Edward and they both agreed it was the best course of action. It was the only course of action available to us.

The goodbyes had been the hardest. Bella had pleaded. I wanted so much just to take her in my arms and never let her go. I couldn't bear watching her cry. She'd shed so many tears in her short life, it wasn't right. I tried my best to comfort her, convince her that it would be OK even though I had a niggling feeling that something was wrong. I held her, I kissed, I told her I loved her and then I left. I didn't have the strength to look back. If I did I might not have gotten on the plane. When I reached my seat Edward put a comforting arm around my shoulders. I was sure he could see the image of Bella broken and in tears in my mind. He didn't say anything, he just held me. I wished I could cry.

The plane had been so cramped. It was overwhelmingly claustrophobic to be in such close proximity to so many humans. At least at school, if it all became too overwhelming the we could make an excuse to leave. Here, over thirty thousand feet in the air, all I could do was hold my breath and pray this aircraft could travel faster than the speed of light. Edward appeared to be doing the same next to me.

I closed my eyes and rested my head on the headrest of my seat. Images of Bella kept filling my mind. The way she'd looked at the airport...it broke my dead heart. I swallowed the pool of venom that had formed in my mouth. I missed her so much already, but this was for the best. Edward and I had spent the first hour or so of the flight going over our plans again. We were going to do our best to avoid Aro. Keep our distance. I'd looked ahead and I hadn't seen any physical contact so that was a plus. When I had looked, Aro had seemed pre-occupied with something, locked in a study, pouring over notes and ancient tomes. He was up to something. A distracted Aro worked in our favour. Hopefully we could get away with dealing with the rest of the guard.

I leant my head against the glass window. It was could even to me. I stared across the sky at the clouds. It was late evening, the sky was a beautiful deep red with strands of purple and orange woven drastically across it. It was breath-taking. Wisps of clouds passed us, if there was a heaven then it must look something like this. The stewardess was asking Edward for the twelfth time whether he wanted anything to eat or drink. Somebody had an admirer. He politely waved her off and reclined his chair back, imitating sleep. I sighed, this plane could not last fast enough.

A few hours later we landed at the airport. It was 11pm. Perfect for us. Only the artificial light of the airport, no sunlight to worry about. I was in a bit of a daze as I followed Edward. We waited for our bags, passed security and we heading towards a set of escalators by the airport exit. Edward stopped in his tracks and I ran straight into him. He spun around and rolled his eyes slightly at me.

"What is it?" Had someone tripped? I sniffed the air, there was no scent of spilled blood so why had he stopped so abruptly? He flicked his head over his right shoulder. I looked at where he had indicated and frowned. Alec and Demetri, two of the Volturi guards were there. Dressed immaculately in black trousers and boots and wearing what looked like a cross between a cloak and trench coat they waited with their arms folded behind their backs. I noticed the humans were given them a wide-berth. Alec and Demetri stared at them with barely disguised disgust. Demetri was slightly taller than Alec though they both had a similar build. Whereas Demetri looked to be in his early to mid twenties, Alec looked as if he was barely into his teen. I recognised them instantly. They were two of the most prominent members of the Volturi guard. Demetri, perhaps the most powerful tracker the world had known. And Alec, twin to Jane. He could paralyse every sense in your body and leave you adrift in a sea of nothingness. They were formidable opponents, two of the reasons why the Volturi were nigh untouchable. Alec could turn you into nothing more than a victim awaiting death and Demetri, well if you were lucky enough or stupid enough to run, then Demetri would track you to the ends of the Earth.

"It appears the Welcome-Party is here for us." I nodded at Edwards comment. Demetri slowly turned his gaze toward us, a cocky sneer spreading across his face. Alec followed suit. This was it. No chance for us to run now. Alec motioned with two of his fingers for us to go over to them. We waited in line for the escalator and made our way over to them.

"Edward, Alice, always a pleasure." Demetri was as charmingly slimy as always.

"Aro, Caius and Marcus are delighted you decided to visit." Alec's voice was soft, not a boys but also not a man's voice.

"I'm sure." Edward kept his voice crisp.

"Is Aro to receive us today?" I made my question sound as innocent as possible. Batting my eyelashes to emphasise my innocence. Alec and Demetri glanced at each other before Demetri answered.

"Sadly, no. Aro is...his attention is needed elsewhere." Edward and I nodded our understanding. Alec and Demetri moved aside. Demetri made a show of sweeping his arms before him, gesturing for us to take the lead. We did as instructed and made our way through the throngs of tourists and travellers and out towards the airport entrance. Alec was suddenly a head of us, standing next to a darkened Mercedes. He held the rear door open for us whilst Demetri gestured for the driver, a human, to deal with our bags. Edward and I lowered ourselves into the car. Edward taking the rear-left passenger seat, leaving me to sit in the middle next to Demetri whilst Alec sat next to the driver. The journey to Volterra was uneasy. I caught Alec glancing at us in the rear-view mirror a couple of times. Demetri did his best with polite but inane conversation. All in all, the hour or so car ride felt as though it took three or four days. Soon though, the city of Volterra was looming ahead of us. The large stone buildings, the rolling countryside. It was idyllic. A beautiful façade.

The car wound its way through the streets. They were relatively empty and quiet at this time of night. A few lovers clinging to each other in the shadows of doorways. It was strange that this was perhaps the safest place for a human to be. Hunting was prohibited within the walls of the city. The car pulled up to a solid, iron gate situated in the middle of a ten foot high stone wall. Either side of the gate was guarded by grotesque gargoyles. I shivered as I saw who was awaiting us outside of the gate; it was Jane, Alec's twin sister. Seeing her there, in her black-as-night cloak and her blood red eyes glowing in he dark sent a hot stream of fear coursing through my veins. She looked as if she were barely a teenager; maybe a little shorter than myself but her reputation in the Volturi was known world-wide. Everybody knew about Jane. Even the youngest newborns were told about Jane and her brother Alec. Jane, the innocent, angelic, sweet faced young girl who could make you believe your skin was caked in molten lave, who could make you beg for death before you begged for mercy. She was nothing more than a weapon for the Volturi.

The driver shut the engine off and held the door open for Demetri. He slid out gracefully and extended his hand to help me out of the vehicle. I took it and felt the warm night air on my face. It was refreshing to feel a breeze after so many hours with some form of a roof over my head. I breathed deep and felt the Volterra air coating my dead lungs. I felt Edward join me at my side, he quickly shoved his hands into his jeans pockets.

"Edward, Alice, always a pleasure." Jane nodded at us before turning to unlock the iron gate. With a loud creak it swung open and we followed as she led the way. We twisted and turned our way through alley-ways, heading down hill slightly until we came to an ornate wooden door. The door itself was a piece of art. Graphic depictions what looked to be vampires fighting werewolves adorned the door whilst the top section was crowned by a carving of Aro, Caius and Marcus. It was so elegant, so beautiful and life-like that I gasped a little.

"Yes, impressive isn't it?" Jane looked at me, her eyes appraising my face. "Caius had it commissioned to commemorate his victory in the War with the Wolves." I nodded along with her words. Though beautiful, the door was still ominous. A black portal to the hellish underworld of this beautiful city. Jane extended her arm and pushed the door. She glided through the doorway and we were urged to follow. I hesitated. I still had a bad feeling.

"Come on Alice." Edwards voice was soft and comforting. He gently took hold of my arm just above my elbow and steered me after Jane. We followed her down a cobbled stair case into a grand entrance hall.

"Please, make yourselves at home. I trust I don't need to remind you about the law against hunting within the city limits?" Jane's blood red eyes seemed to glow in the darkened hall.

"And I trust I don't need to remind you of our diet?" Edward arched his eyebrow slightly and Jane waved his words off.

"Ahh yes, so that phase isn't over yet?" Edward growled slightly and I had to place my hand on his wrist. It calmed him slightly.

"It's not a phase Jane," I tried to keep my voice level and calm, "It's how we choose to live. It's our way of life."

"Of course." Her words were crisp and indicated that the conversation was over. A sweet smile spread across her lips and it was perhaps the most horrific thing I had ever seen.

"Alice, your chamber is in the West Wing, opposite the entrance to the garden. Edward, yours is in the East Wing, adjacent to the library." She nodded in the direction of our chambers and departed. Alec followed suit silently, Demetri did the same but gave a small bow; ever the creepy gentleman.

"I'm going to unpack. Then I'll check the library. They're definitely hiding something. All three of them were trying to block me the whole time they were with us." Edward had dropped his bag to the floor and ran his hand through his coppery locks. He looked determined. We'd agreed, forty-eight hours and then we would be gone.

"Good luck Edward." He nodded and flitted off in the direction of his room. I grabbed my bag and trudged towards the West Wing. Solid stone walls, ornate tapestries and candles lined my route. I followed them until I came to set of antique French doors leading out a courtyard that was surrounded by vines, roses and lilies. The moonlight reflected off the dew-drops on the rose petals as if they were crystals. It was strange. It brought to mind Beauty and the Beast.. I turned my gaze to door opposite the garden. I rested my hand on the brass door knob. It felt slightly warm under my finger tips. I gave it a sharp turn and the door swung open. It was at least two inches thick, solid oak by the smell of it. No expenses spared. I stepped into the room and froze. It was dark but I could see perfectly. I wasn't alone. There was a figure perched on the edge of a four poster bed opposite the door.

"Hello Alice." It was a soft, English accent spoken by a woman. Her voice was...sweet, almost child-like.

"Who are you?" I was in no mood for games. It was already dangerous enough being here, I didn't need to be taunted by some strange vampire as well.

"I've been waiting for you." The strange woman stayed just far enough in the shadows that I couldn't see their face.

"That didn't answer my question." I heard a slight sigh, and then a pause.

"My name's Lesley."

"Lesley who? Why have you been waiting for me?" Lesley rose from the bed and stepped out of the shadows. She was small, about my height. Whereas I had a slight, dancers build; Lesley had more of an athletic figure. Slightly broader shoulders and a bit more muscle on her arms and legs. She looked like a runner. Her hair was chin length and platinum blonde. I noticed it was cropped at the back and protruding from her scalp in a million different angles. She had a a splash of freckles across her nose and a small, crescent shaped scar beneath her right eye. Her eyes were one of the most vibrant shades of red I'd ever seen, almost matching the ruby colour of her lips that seemed to be permanently stuck in a lop-sided grin. She looked as if she'd been changed in her late teens or early twenties. There was no telling how long she had been on this world though.

"I've seen you coming for a while now Alice." Lesley took a graceful step towards me. I noticed she was dressed in almost an exact replica of Jane's outfit. It took a short moment for her words to sink in.

"Wait...seen me?" She cocked her head to the side and smiled widely at me.

"Come now Alice," I spun around at the new voice. Aro was in the doorway flanked by Jane and Alec. He flicked his eyes towards Lesley and I heard her bow her head slightly. Aro returned his gaze to my face.

"Did you really think you were the only one Alice?"

A week had passed since my departure from Forks. I hadn't seen Edward since our arrival in Volterra. I'd been confined to my chamber. A couple of rabbits had been throw in with me a few days ago. I'd gulped their blood down hungrily. I hadn't seen Aro since he'd surprised me that night. I tried looking to see what was going to happen but all I say was a thick grey mist in my mind. I'd paced the room about a thousand times. It was exactly seventy three steps at its widest point. Why hadn't I been executed yet? Why hadn't Aro dealt with me? What had happened to Edward? What was going on back home? My stomach lurched at the thought of the rest of my family. I kept having harrowing imaginings of them storm into Volterra, trying to rescue Edward and I, and being torn to pieces. I couldn't let that happen. I had to find a way to warn them.

Lost in my musings I didn't hear the door open. I was completely unaware that I was no longer alone in the room until a small hand touched my shoulder. I spun around and lowered myself into a semi-defensive position. It was Lesley. I hissed at her slightly. She held her hands up to show she wasn't a threat and stepped away from me slightly.

"Aro wondered if you would care to stretch your legs." She didn't sound apologetic but she had a sort of shyness about her. I was beginning to suspect that she was new to being an immortal.

"I'm assuming I wouldn't be unaccompanied?" She smiled again, it was strange, her smile was so human.

"I'm to escort you if you wish to traverse the grounds." Her voice sounded a little deeper than it had when we'd first met.

"You?" I appraised her, she was no longer in her Volturi garb, she was wearing a simple pair of jeans a plain white, short sleeved shirt. Other than her eyes, she looked like any other young girl. Slightly more attractive, but still, relatively normal.

"I'm the only one who can anticipate you." I nodded. It made sense. Lesley stood to one side and swept her arm across her, much in the same way that Demetri had done a week ago. I took her invitation and left the confines of my room for the first time since I'd originally entered it. We walked along the corridors in silence for a while. I kept glancing at the tapestries as we passed them. They all seemed to depict battle after bloody battle. I shuddered involuntarily at them.

"Yeah, they kind of scare me too." I turned to face Lesley. She was so...un-Volturi.

"Who are you really?" I folded my arms across my stomach. I made it perfectly clear she wasn't going to get past me without answering my question.

"Lesley."

"No, more than that. Why are you here?" She smiled shyly and looked away before answering.

"I'm the you that Aro could have." Well that was at least a semi-honest answer. She continued to talk and I wasn't about to stop her.

"When I was...well before this," she gestured at her eyes and I knew she meant before she was turned, "I was always very intuitive...psychic I guess you call it. Guess the card, pick a number, I've never lost a game of rock, paper scissors." She jutted her chin out in mock pride and I couldn't prevent the quiet giggle that escaped my lips.

"Well, then one day I wake up and I'm not in my bed, I'm here. Aro is there. He tells me he's been keeping an eye on me, I'm special, he could help me with my gift. Well I have no family, no lover, no commitments at all. A lonely life you might say. When Aro gave me an invitation to his family, I accepted. The pain was..." she let her words trail off. I couldn't remember my change. I was lucky I guess. Lesley blinked and shook her head slightly.

"Anyway, after I woke from that, I saw everything. It all kept rushing at me. I saw a man deciding to cheat on his wife in New York. I saw a horse winning a race in London. I saw a car crash in Hong Kong. It was all there. I eventually learned to push it to the back of my mind. It's all still there, I can zone in and out as I wish. But you, well I couldn't push you away. I've been seeing you standing in that chamber for the last four weeks..." I had to cut her off there.

"Four weeks? I only made the decision to come a week ago!"

"Decision...? Why does that matter?" She looked as confused as I felt.

"The future, it's based on the decisions people make." She shook her head at my words.

"No...the future happens as I see it. It never changes. I never see different version of the same thing. I see it, it happens. That's it." My head was spinning with possibilities. Does that mean that every decision we made was pre-determined? Did she somehow control the future?

"I...I don't understand." I leant against the wall, rubbing my temples to ease the tension.

"Well, for instance, I can see your girlfriend right now. She'll be here in a few days. I don't know why she's coming but I know she's going to be here." I was shocked at her words. Girlfriend...that could only mean one person.

"Bella..." I whispered her name. She wouldn't come here...Carlisle would never allow it...would he? I couldn't risk it. Without thinking about it I lashed out with my foot. I sent Lesley flying through the air. She went straight through one of the walls of the corridor we'd just walked down. I didn't even wait for the dust to settle. I ran as fast as I possibly could. I had to find a phone, a computer, a carrier pigeon, anything! I ran through so many corridors. I could hear footsteps behind me but I didn't dare to slow down. There! A computer. It was an entrance, not the one we had used a week ago. There was what appeared to be concierge desk with a woman stood by it typing on a laptop. She was my target. I was at her side in a flash. I held her off the floor by her throat as I loaded up the email browser. I logged into my emails as fast as I could and managed to type two words before the Volturi were one me. Before they pinned me to the wall I managed to slam my fist down on the send button. I did it. I got a warning out. All I had been able to type was '_Stay Away.'_

"You've forced my hand Alice." After my little show of disobedience I'd been moved to what could only be described as a dungeon. There was a cot in the corner for me to rest on and I was constantly guarded. At the moment I was being guarded by Felix, perhaps the largest vampire I had ever seen. Aro was pacing in front of me, his hands clenched behind his back. He had a stern look about him, like an angry teacher or parent.

"I had originally intended to allow things to play out as naturally as possible. However, I am forced to take matters into my own hands now, speed them along a bit." I had no idea what Aro was talking about.

"I apologise for the inconvenience." He spun around to face me then. A quizzical look on his face.

"No inconvenience at all young Alice. In fact I am quite looking forward to the prospect of reuniting with number six sooner than expected." His words cut me to the bone. Number six. I'd read the file, I'd heard the stories. I knew who he was talking about.

"Bella?! She's coming here?!" I'd risen to my feet now, Felix stepped forward slightly, ready to snap me in two at a moments notice.

"Ahh Bella, yes she always had a dry sense of humour. My best and brightest. I am so looking forward to our reunion." His smile tipped me over the edge of sanity.

"You bastard!" I screeched at him, flying across the room, aiming for his throat. I was blinded by rage. The world had disappeared and all I could see clearly was Aro and my hatred for him in that moment. I came so close, a hairs breadth away from my target before a strong hand clamped around my own throat and spun me around through the air and pinned me to the damp, stone floor.

"Alice, you are only alive at this moment for my amusement; I advise you to not become dull." Aro spat his words at the ground where I lay. To emphasise the point Aro was making, Felix pressed my head harder into the stone ground. I heard a loud crack, I wasn't sure if it was the floor or my head that had been damaged. I prayed it was the floor.

"I thought you would be excited Alice, you get to see 'Bella' again later on today." he spat her name in face as if it were an insult. I thrashed about under Felix's grip. I couldn't allow Bella to come here. I couldn't allow her to put herself in danger. At that moment there was a slight rush of activity in the room. I glanced about and noticed Chelsea had entered the room, she whispered something in Aro's ear and then departed as quickly as she had come. Aro clasped his hands together and clenched them with glee.

"It appears they have arrived earlier than expected. Felix, bring Alice upstairs." Aro left with a flourish of his cloak. Felix snarled and hefted me to my feet. He twisted one of my arms around my back and held it firmly in place. I couldn't escape him.

"Where's Edward, Felix?" I heard a sort of snort behind me.

"I wouldn't worry about him right now." With a shove he pushed me in the same direction Aro had left in. In a few moments were in a large, circular room. Three chairs...well thrones would be a more apt description stood to one side. Aro sat in the middle with Marcus to his left looking as apathetic as ever and Caius to his right looking antagonistic. I was forced to me knees just in front of Aro. Felix kept a tight hold of the back of my neck. If I even moved I knew he would separate my head from my shoulders without a moments hesitation. Just then I was relieved to see Edward. He was being forced to the ground on the other side of Aro. Demetri was the one holding him down.

"Edward, thank god you're all right!" He smiled at me.

"Nothing to worry about Alice." His head was jerked forward by Demetri. I took as a sign that we were supposed to remain silent. The grand entrance door to the circular room opened at that moment and Chelsea entered with Carlisle following closely behind her. Jane, Alec and Lesley all entered after them. They were all wearing the identically dark cloaks of the Volturi.

"Carlisle my old friend, always a pleasure!" Aro greeted him warmly. Carlisle pursed his lips in a strained smile.

"Aro, so nice of you to invite my family." He nodded towards Aro, Marcus and Caius as a sign of respect.

"Well it had been decades, I thought a visit was in order." Carlisle just nodded at his words. This prompted Aro to continue.

"I believe you have a new-comer in your midst Carlisle; Bella, I believe." Carlisle's eyes narrowed. I tried to plead with him with a few quiet whimpers. Please Carlisle, whatever you do, do not allow Bella to enter this room!

"Bella has recently graced our family, that is true."

"I would very much like to see her." Aro smiled his acidicly sweet smile. Carlisle nodded his acquiescence. Chelsea left the room momentarily and returned with Bella. My heart lifted at the sight of her. I fought against Felix's grip. I just wanted to wrap my arms around her and keep her safe. She was the most beautiful vision I had ever seen. It was wrong for her to be surrounded by this nightmare.

"Ahh Bella! I trust you remember me?" Bella nodded. Her gaze was as hard as stone, she didn't glance at me once.

"You are a most impressive specimen Bella! You always made me proud. I'm glad you returned to us." Bella smiled shyly, a slight blush entering her cheeks.

"I'm glad to be home." My heart fell into my stomach. What had she just said?

"Bella...what?" Felix dug his fingers into my neck, causing me to hiss in pain.

"Thank you for bringing me back to my family Alice, I have no further use for you now." Her voice was so cold. I couldn't understand it. Where had Bella gone? My Bella? The Bella who would walk through flames for me? The Bella who would laugh at the simplest thing? The Bella who could see right into my soul?

"Bella, what are you saying?" Her gaze turned to me. There was nothing there. No love, no emotion, nothing.

"You heard me Alice. You were nothing but a way back for me." If I was still human tears would be streaming down my face right now.

"Come Bella." I twisted my face round to see Aro with his arms outstretched. Bella sauntered over to him and entered his arms in a delicate embrace. Aro placed a soft kiss on Bella's hair and she smiled lovingly, she actually smiled lovingly at him. Lesley stepped past Carlisle and rested a black cloak over Bella's shoulders. It was one of the most sickening things I had ever seen in my existence. I wanted to burn this city to the ground.

"Carlisle, thank you for returning our daughter to us. You and your family are free to leave." With that Felix and Demetri lifted Edward and I to our feet. We were dragged out of the room. I fought every single step, screaming Bella's name, begging her to look at me. She ignored every word. The last glimpse of Bella I had before the doors were slammed in my face was of her in that black cloak, kissing Lesley.


	10. Chapter 10

**Amazing response for the last chapter. Thanks so much, all of you!  
Sorry for the wait, I've actually been writing another story, got a bit wrapped up in that one so keep your eyes out for it!  
New information will be revealed. We're back to Bella's POV in this Chapter.  
This is mostly filler and I know many of you will get to certain parts and think "WTF?!"...don't question my methods, just trust in my madness.  
Everything is Stephenie Meyer's.  
Read, review, enjoy.**

Chapter Ten

"Carlisle, thank you for returning our daughter to us. You and your family are free to leave." Aro's voice was crisp and firm. An order disguised as a pleasantry. I didn't turn around as I heard Alice and Edward being pulled to their feet and dragged from the room. I tensed my shoulders as Alice screamed my name over and over again. I didn't waiver.

A movement off to the side caught my eye; it was a beautiful young woman, the same woman who had adorned my shoulders with the black cloak. My eyes swept over her body, she was shorter than I was, around the same height as Alice but a little more womanly. Her hair was shockingly blonde and barely reached her chin. The back of her hair though was protruding from her scalp in an array of spikes that darted in every direction imaginable. I had to do a double take when I got to her eyes. Those crimson eyes seemed to burn and swirl with flames of red. She took a few small steps towards me and placed her hands firmly against my cheeks. Before I even realised what was happening, she'd pressed her lips against my own. I felt my eyes widen momentarily before I lazily allowed them to drift to a close. I surrendered myself to the kiss and allowed this woman to take the lead. Alice's screams stopped then, and a second later I heard the heavy door to the chamber slam to a close. The woman before me eventually pulled away; I could feel her cold breath against my moist lips.

"I missed you." Her voice was soft and sweet with an English accent. She was smiling widely at me; I returned her smile as Aro clapped his hands together loudly.

"Delightful! It is so good to have you here at last Bella!" Aro walked towards me, his hands out-stretched. I turned away from the woman and placed my hands into his skeletal fingers allowing him to close them loosely around my warm flesh. He was smiling at me but I thought I saw something hidden in the corner of his eyes, some emotion that I couldn't quite fathom. It lasted barely a heartbeat and then it vanished.

"I'm glad you have returned to us Bella, however one cannot help but to question why?" Aro cocked his head to the left slightly and increased the pressure minutely around my fingers.

"You are my family, this is where I belong." I bowed my head in a show of respect. Aro took a second to absorb my words and nodded to himself.

"So we are, you are as a daughter to me Bella, such as Jane and Lesley are," Aro swept his arm around him, indicating the people he spoke of. So that was her name. Lesley. I recognised Jane from the drawings and stories Alice had told me of her; the sadistic Volturi with the angelic face. I bowed my head again to him. He finally released my hands and I lowered them to my sides. Lesley moved to stand next to me, rubbing her shoulder reassuringly against mine.

"Aro, must we continue this?" The one I knew to be Caius looked annoyed, as if my very presence in this chamber was not worth his time.

"My friend Caius, I believe that you're failing to understand that you are in the presence of a marvellous being!" Aro's smile widened.

"She is a human Aro. I can hear her heart beating and see the blood pumping through her body." He sneered at me viciously. I could tell I was nothing more than a morsel to him.

"Well perhaps Bella would be kind enough to offer us a demonstration." Without waiting for my reply, the other occupants of the chamber moved to the side. Lesley smiled reassuringly at me as she took her place besides Jane and Alec. I stepped back into the centre of the chamber and shrugged the black cloak off my shoulders, allowing it to fall in ripples around my feet. I shook my shoulders to loosen them and prepared for whatever test Aro might have me undertake.

"As you wish Aro." Caius waved his hand dismissively for us to proceed. Aro re-took his seat in between the annoyed Caius and the silent and un-interested Marcus.

"Good, good. Felix," Aro motioned to a man who dwarfed even Emmett, "if you please." Felix removed his cloak and rested it on an ornate table, one of many that rested against the walls of the chamber. He took a few large strides and was soon standing a couple of feet away from me.

"Greetings Bella, such a pleasure." He made a strange twirling gesture with his hand that I took for a greeting. He had a wide and cheeky smile and reminded me more than a little of Emmett.

"Felix, I hope you're ready." I could hear the arrogance in my voice and his grin widened. I crouched slightly and dug my toes into the ground beneath my feet, ready to spring into any kind of action that I might need to.

"Felix, allow Bella to attack you please." Aro had his hands folded beneath his chin. Felix nodded his understanding to his master and folded his hands loosely behind his back.

"Come on little one. Let's see if I can feel it." His own arrogance was comical. I slid my right leg back behind my body, ready to snap it into action.

"Bella dear, please don't hurt him too much." Aro's voice was sweet and fatherly. He looked eager for the demonstration.

"Yes Aro." I took a breath, focusing on what I wanted to do. I shuffled forward slightly and rested my weight on my back leg, twisting my front foot out slightly to increase my balance. I centred myself and focused on my target. Felix was standing before me, a mammoth of a man. He could have easily had two hundred pounds on me. It wouldn't make a difference. He smiled at me as if he were egging me on. I grinned up at him and swung me back leg viciously forward. My foot caught him square in the chest. I felt the energy transferred from my leg, through my foot and into his body. His eyes widened as he went sailing through the air. His arms were waving about him as he crashed into the stone wall, a cloud of dust enveloping him in milliseconds. It was all I had to do, all I had to prove. It was all I planned to do anyway. However a growl erupted from the dust cloud and barely a heartbeat later, an enraged Felix was storming over to me at top-speed. Barely a second had passed since the kick and he was before me again, his teeth gritted into a snarl. He swung a large fist at my head, I ducked under it easily. He swung another and another. They were easy to dodge. He was slow and clumsy. A powerful and accomplished fighter obviously, he never used the same move twice, but he was slower, a fraction slower than I was, and a fraction was all I needed.

In the Institute we were taught that you never have to be stronger than your opponent to beat them. It helps, but it isn't necessary. All you need to do is create an opportunity to strike and make sure that strike counts. So that is what I did. As Felix swiped at my face and swung for my ribs I ducked and dodged him. I left just enough space between us for him to try and hit me, but not enough for him to be able to hit me. As I saw the frustration piling on him, I closed the distance between us by an inch. He saw this chance and he tried to take it. He pulled his right arm back and swung it straight for my left temple. I twisted my body in the direction of his punch; I moved my head at the last second and followed his fist around. When his arm was fully extended I grabbed his wrist for leverage. He'd widened his gait to put more power into the punch; this was what I had been counting on. The back of his right knee was exposed to me. I slammed my foot into the delicate area behind the knee. With a yelp of pain Felix's leg gave way and he fell to his knees. He was seething and hissing with anger. The moment his knees touched the floor I yanked his wrist up and over his shoulder; pulling his arm down the centre of his back, straining his shoulder muscles and causing his head to be forced into an awkward position leaning against his shoulder. He tried to claw at my face with his free hand however I was safely out of his reach. With my own free hand I placed it against his throat, and took a firm hold of his jaw. At that moment, Aro rose from his seat clapping delightedly.

"Excellent, excellent! That was most entertaining!" I released my grip on Felix and stood to the side, standing almost to attention as Aro, Caius and Marcus absorbed what they had just witnessed. Felix heaved himself to his feet, rubbing his shoulder slightly.

"My dear Felix; beaten by a human." Aro goaded Felix playfully; I felt a twinge of pity for him.

"I'm sure had he been aware of his opponents abilities, Felix would have beaten me, he is an excellent fighter." Felix nodded his head in respect to me. I returned the gesture. His smile was back in place now.

"You see Caius, a magnificent being and gracious too!" Aro moved to a position behind me and placed both hands on my shoulders, presenting me to his brethren.

"Aro what is this?!" Caius waved his skeletal fingers in my direction. He was seeing me in a new light and I wasn't entirely sure if that was a good thing.

"This is my proudest creation!" Aro squeezed my shoulders slightly. "This is my daughter. This is my innovation. Of those children in the programme, Bella is the one I am most proud of. She is the only one who deserved to join our precious family!" Caius considered Aro's words carefully.

"Is she not the one who fled the facility?" Caius voice was full of contempt, I got the feeling he was looking for any excuse to tear me limb from limb.

"She is. She was most impressive during that particular exercise." Exercise? I glanced quickly at Aro. What did he mean by exercise?

"Another one of your games dear Aro?" I was stunned by Marcus' voice for the first time. He was barely audible and the words I could hear sounded more like a yawn than speech.

"Indeed brother. The American government are so...paranoid. Always believing someone is out to steal their secrets. Why steal what will come to you willingly?" At that moment the chamber door swung open again. I spun round to view the new entrant and my heart almost stopped.

Charlie.

Charlie, in his jeans and checked shirt was striding purposefully over to us. He stopped a few feet short of Aro and gave a small nod of his head.

"Master Aro." His voice was flat, no emotion, no inflection, nothing- just words.

"Ah, Charlie, right on schedule. How has she done these last few years?" Charlie gave a quick glance to me before clearing his throat.

"Assimilation into society was good. There was some reduction in strength which was to be expected. This could be countered by reapplication of the serum. No deterioration in intelligence or speed. Eyesight has maintained however night vision is some-what diminished and healing capabilities have also decreased." Charlie rambled off my many physical attributes and how the lack of drugs had affected me. Aro listened and nodded intently. When Charlie had finished Aro clapped his hands together enthusiastically.

"You see Caius that impressive display we just witnessed was not even an accurate depiction of Bella's full potential!" Aro's face was distorted with a gleeful smile. It was eerie. I tried my hardest not to show my confusion. I forced myself to remain calm, forced my body not to shake and my heart to keep a steady rhythm. Inside I was screaming, outside I was placid.

"Very well Aro, you have made your point." With that Caius rose to his feet and swept out of the chamber, followed lazily by Marcus. Aro turned to me and offered an enthusiastic smile to Charlie.

"You have done us proud Charlie. You and Bella must be in need of rest now. Felix will show you to your chambers and Bella, Lesley will show you to yours." Charlie and I gave a curt nod to Aro as he flashed out of the chamber. Felix flicked his head in the direction Charlie should follow and without so much as a back-wards glance to me, he left. I turned to where Lesley was standing next to Jane and Alec, they both wore smug grins and I could tell they were sizing me up.

"This way Bella." Lesley motioned for me to head towards a small door in the far corner of the room. I bowed my head in respect to Jane and Alec and followed Lesley out of the room. The door led to a well lit hallway. Candelabras adorned the wall every few feet and the smoke rose to the stone ceiling. The whole place smelled of smoke. It wasn't over powering though. It was mostly comforting, reassuring. The only way I could explain it was that it made the place seem warm.

The hallway led onto a spiral staircase, Lesley and I climbed the stone steps in silence. It was narrow and claustrophobic. I had to place my hands on either side of the wall as the steps were so steep. We reached a small landing with two doors on either side of the stair-well. Both were solid oak and both looked as if they were a few hundred years old at least.

"This is your room Bella." Lesley stood by the door on the left. She turned the brass handle and allowed the door to swing open for me. Everything inside of the room was plush and velvety. Red curtains, cushions, a large bed covered in a duvet and more pillows than I could count, armoires, book-shelves, an ornate writing desk. It was...it was like a scene from Dickens. It was so elegant and warm; a sharp contrast to the cold stone walls of the hallway. I stepped into the room and marvelled at the elegance of my surroundings. Lesley followed me into the room, closing the door silently behind her.

"What do you think?" She asked sheepishly. I turned to look at her. She was scuffing her toe against the carpet and looking everywhere except at me.

"It's beautiful." I smiled my appreciation to her and she looked thoroughly relieved.

"Good, I hoped you'd like it." She walked over to the bed and sat on the edge of it, folding her hands neatly in her lap. I moved to sit next to her on the bed. It had to have been the comfiest bed I had ever been on. The mattress was like a cloud, it was perfect. Soft enough to be comfortable and firm enough to support every bone, joint and muscle.

"So..." Lesley sounded like a cross between anxious and bored.

"So..." I wasn't particularly in the mood for games right now.

"Who are you?" I just blurted it out. It had been bugging me since I first saw her in the main chamber.

"You heard Aro. I'm Lesley." I shook my head, slightly frustrated by her words.

"That didn't answer my question." Lesley tilted her head to the side and smiled playfully at me.

"I know it didn't. Who I am is not important. You are safe with me Bella, I can promise you that." I scowled at her. I hated, absolutely detested, cryptic answers.

"Lesley, just answer my question please." She looked at me ruefully, weighing my words against her better judgement probably.

"OK Bella, if you want to know." I nodded my head slowly.

"I've been working with the Volturi for a number of years now. In my human life, I was a very talented geneticist. I developed tests and treatments for many inherited conditions and diseases." Her eyes glazed over slightly, as if she were remembering her human years fondly.

"I was, for lack of a better word, brilliant. I'd gained my doctorate at seventeen. I loved to learn, loved to discover new problems to solve. My parents hardly knew what to do with me." She laughed loudly and I couldn't help but smile along with her.

"We used to have a family joke that the first book I ever read was the encyclopaedia! Anyway, I was head-hunted right out of Uni. The private sector in the States, they offered me everything I could ever dream of; state of the art facilities, an army of assistants, almost unlimited funding. It was a dream-come-true, a dream I couldn't possibly walk away from. So I packed my bags and away I went. It was...amazing. The work I was doing could jump man-kind forward centuries! It was leading to break-throughs in cancer treatments, new medical equipment; there was even the possibility of curing Alzheimer's, dementia, senility! Imagine that; growing old without the fear of ever losing yourself to your own mind!" She was so animated while she was talking. She'd moved to the edge of the bed and was staring at me with wide eyes, one of her feet tucked beneath her.

"Anyway, I was asked to work on a formula to develop a serum. The company I worked for provided me with various substances. Their own creations they said. They wanted me to find a way to bind the compounds together in a way in which they would complement and enhance the properties of each other. It took weeks of trials but I managed to do it. I succeeded where everybody else had failed! The serum was so elegant and simple. It was designed to accelerate muscle regeneration, to enhance strength in the subject. I was told it was a cure for paralysis! I was young and naive and I believed them." Her smile had turned mournful and her voice had lowered to almost a whisper.

"What was it really for?" I asked her softly, not wanting to push her too hard. I wanted answers.

"It was for you." She looked at me then, her eyes boring deep into my own. Her words floated around my mind. They were meaningless for a few moments until I absorbed and understood them.

"For me?" She nodded slowly at my words, never breaking eye contact.

"Yes Bella. Aro may have '_built'_ you, but my work made you what you are." I couldn't read the emotion in her voice. My mind was beginning to reel with this new information. I pushed it all down.

"You...you developed the drugs they gave us at the Institute." She nodded again at my statement, still looking deep into my eyes. I was the first to break eye contact. I shifted in my seat, stretching my legs out in front of me for a moment.

"The venom?" A flash of sadness shot across her face for just a moment.

"They never told us Bella. I didn't find out until later." She looked so miserable telling me all of this. "You know, I got to see you a few times. When I found out what my work was being used for, I managed to get a few glimpses. There you were, surrounded by those boys. All of them bigger than you, but none of them measured up." She was smiling again. She'd reached over and placed her hand on my knee now, squeezing it gently.

"When Aro turned me, the intuition that enabled me to pick the right formula, go down the right path, choose the right equation; that intuition evolved into something unimaginable." She piqued my interest now. I tilted my head slightly, nodding for her to continue. I'd begun absent-mindedly playing with a corner of the duvet I was sitting on.

"I could see everything! Everything and anything that was happening everywhere and everything that hadn't happened yet. Everything I shouldn't know, I did. Everything I couldn't see, I saw."

"Like Alice?" My voice was barely a whisper. It was more of a musing than a question.

"Along similar lines, yes. I saw everything that was going to happen. I saw you. I saw your first few months away from the Institute. I saw how strong you were. I saw how you learnt to survive. I saw how your moulded yourself into everything I hoped you would be. Then...after about five months, I saw you less and less. You disappeared. Just this last month or two I've started to see you again. I could only see you through others experiences of you though. I could never see just you. I only ever got the part you played in the lives of others. It tormented me. The vivid images I used to get and then I was reduced to snippets. It was infuriating. You were...are, my enigma. My unanswered question. My impossible riddle." I noticed her eyes flick momentarily to my lips. She began leaning into me ever so slowly. I didn't move away. I could feel her sweet breath against my lips. I felt myself freeze. I was watching her as she moved in closer.

"You are mine." With that she closed the distance and slowly pressed her marble lips against my own. Her lips moved rhythmically against my own and I felt my body responding to her touch. She deepened the kiss and I moaned involuntarily against her mouth as she pushed me down onto the soft mattress. She lowered herself over me, never breaking contact with my lips. Her body was pinning mine to the bed, her lips were dancing with my own and her hand was entangled in my hair. Eventually she broke away and trailed kisses down my jaw-line towards my neck. Without my consent, my head angled away allowing her better access. I was gripping the bed beneath me. I was losing control of my body and I couldn't trust my hands to comply with my demands. Lesley was focusing her attention on my pulse-point now. Lapping her tongue across it lazily, eliciting quiet gasps from my treacherous mouth. My gasps turned into a short scream as her felt her teeth stab into my flesh.

Her hand that had wrapped its way into my hair was now pinning my head to one side. Her body had become a dead-weight atop my own. I froze for a moment. I could feel my blood starting to evacuate my veins. I could feel the throbbing as it pulsed its way out of my body. And then I felt the burn. A liquid fire spreading up my neck and along the left side of my face, encapsulating my ear, my eye, my mind. I shrieked from the pain and with all my might I clamped my hands onto Lesley's stony shoulders and heaved her away from me. She flew vertically in the air, not stopping until she had crashed into the ceiling above me. Dust rained down around my face, tickling my nose and settling on my eyelashes. I clamped a hand to my gaping wound and sped to the other side of the room, making sure the door was near enough should I require it.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" I seethed at her. My teeth gritted in anger and voice harsh from pain. Now that she was not at my neck anymore, the burning had subsided slightly. Only slightly. Lesley picked herself up from off the ground and dusted herself off. Licking my blood from her lips slowly, savouring the taste of me on her tongue.

"I apologise Bella. I was momentarily overcome." She held her hands up innocently, trying to placate me. Her eyes kept darting to the wound at my neck. I knew I didn't smell like food to her but blood was blood.

"I believe it's best that you leave." Still holding onto my neck; I could feel the capillaries under my skin begin to stitch themselves together again, healing the damage that was done by the vampire before me, I turned slightly and held the door to my room open for her. She bowed her head in silence and began to walk towards the door. I turned my head in disgust and winced as a surge of pain shot from my wound towards my skull. I clamped my eyes shut as the pain momentarily washed over me. I could feel Lesley beside me now; she would be gone in a moment. I opened my eyes just as she passed me and in that second she glanced my way and frowned. I turned away from her and her hand darted out and grabbed my wrist, she spun me towards her and clamped her hands on either side of my face.

"What the..." My words were cut off by the stern expression on her face.

"Bella, look at your eyes!" I shook myself free from her vice-like grip and headed towards one of the armoires with an ornate mirror adorning the top of it. I braced myself against the wooden surface and leant as close to the mirror as I could without fogging the glass with my breath. My heart almost stopped. My eyes were different. I was...was I changing? I wasn't overcome by the burning terror that vampirism brought. I couldn't feel any cellular changes. The burning had almost subsided but there, staring at me from the mirror was irrefutable evidence that _something_ was changing within me.

My warm, chocolaty-brown eyes had changed. They still contained their traditional shade of brown but now they were wreathed in a new colour. A devilish shade of red had snaked its way around my irises. Two crimson halos stared back at me from the antique mirror. I pulled at my cheeks, pulling my eye-lids down, trying to see my full eye ball. There were no other changes. I did a quick inventory. I didn't feel my body changing. But then another shooting pain bolted towards my brain. I clamped my hand to my temple and hissed in pain. I heard Lesley take a step towards me and I spun to face.

"What have you done to me?!" Right then another blinding pain shot through my skull. My vision disappeared, replaced by whiteness, nothingness. I couldn't see shapes, I couldn't tell if I was still on my feet or not. A rushing noise filled my ears and my breath was knocked viciously from my body. I sucked at the air desperately trying to fill my lungs. I felt something grip my wrists; it was icy cold and clamped down hard around me, holding me steady. From that grip I could tell I was swaying on the spot. I felt gravity trying to pull me down and I fought against it. The pain came in searing waves, burning into my mind. I couldn't hear my screams but I could feel them ripping along my vocal chords. I felt my knees give way. I dropped to the ground gasping for breath; the whiteness was shifting before my eyes. I was seeing shapes, silhouettes, I was hearing more than the terrible rushing noise. I could just about make out voices. They sounded familiar but distorted. I couldn't make out any of the words though. Just noise! The silhouettes were beginning to take shape, one of them I recognised instantly. Her hair, her honey eyes, the shape of her body standing in the light. She was surrounded by others. The way her head was bobbing every now and then it looked as though she was deep in conversation.

"Alice!" I felt the word break free from my lips. As soon as it was free, Alice turned. She stared straight into my eyes; her beautiful golden orbs staring straight into my soul, a look of deep confusion marring her perfect features. My heart stopped for a moment. I wrenched my hands free from the icy grip that held them tight and reached out tentatively. I just wanted to see if it was real. But the image disappeared. The world came flooding back. I blinked and it had dissolved entirely. I was back in the room with Lesley. She was kneeling before me, staring at me anxiously. Her mouth was forming my name but I couldn't hear her voice.

I realised I'd been holding my breath; my lungs were burning with the need for oxygen. I gasped and felt the air flood into my mouth and slide down my throat. A tear escaped my eye and slid gracefully down the contours of my cheek, clinging to my chin for just a second before falling through the air and landing in a droplet on my leg. I was gasping for air, trying to focus and ground myself. The pain had dissipated; all that remained was the throbbing beneath my skull and in my ears.

"...Bella...Bella...BELLA!" Lesley's voice dripped with worry, she clamped her hands on either side of my face and forced me to look at her, into those eyes, so different from the pools of honey I had just seen a moment ago.

"Bella what's wrong, are you OK?" I gulped down the pool of spit that had formed under my tongue and nodded my head slowly. Movement hurt.

"What happened?" She was leaning in close, pulling my eyelids apart, examining me. I felt her fingers at my neck and knew she was checking my pulse. Her finger-tips grazed the fresh wound and I winced slightly in pain.

"I think...I think I had a vision." Lesley froze for a moment before sitting back on her heels, an absent expression on her face. Just then a soft voice from the doorway drew my attention.

"Most interesting."


End file.
